A four-man gang of hoodlums, in the early hours of Tuesday, attacked the Federal government-owned Radio Nigeria FM station at Idofian town, in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The hoodlums, who rode on two motorcycles to the station, vandalized and carted away the radio station’s cables and other valuable items.
The dare-devil hoodlums struck at about 4a.m and carried out their operation after they had tied the night guard and beaten him mercilessly.
Reports said they also went away with the phones of the officers on duty during the invasion.
The FM frequency, which is owned by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, was forced to shut down operations as a result of the damaged cables.
Reacting to the development, the Assistant Director of Programmes, who represented the General Manager of the station, Hajia Binta Abubakar Mora, expressed displeasure over the attack, saying it constituted a great threat to the broadcast industry in Nigeria.
“This is a great threat to the broadcasting industry in Nigeria. This had earlier happened to our sister stations in Lokoja, Kogi State and even in Lafia, Nassarawa State.
“As it is now, we are off-air. The damage has been done. The affected armored cables are very expensive. What it will take to fix this is something that has become a burden on the management,” she told reporters after conducting them around the station’s premises.
Hajia Mora said, “However, the lives of our staff who were on duty when the incident happened are worth more than whatever they have damaged, because if anything otherwise had happened, it would have been a very sad story. We thank the Almighty God that it didn’t go beyond this.”
She expressed concerns about the location of the station and called on the Nigerian government to come to their aid to enable them resume operations.
Hajia Mora also called on the government to assist in making their working environment more safe and conducive to work in, stressing that the location is not friendly enough.