It has been alleged that soldiers deployed to protect President Goodluck Jonathan’s private residence in Otuoke, Bayelsa state, on Thursday harassed and detained a Punch reporter, Simon Utebor, for attempting to take pictures of the president’s house.


Mr. Utebor was arrested by soldiers from the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta and handed over to the police at Otuoke Police Station. He was accosted by soldiers on guard duty while taking photographs of on-going work on the palatial residence constructed while the president was in office.

Efforts to speak with the Punch correspondent were unsuccessful as his mobile phone was switched off.