Editor shot in highway attack

2012-11-07 07:36

(Supplied)

Lagos - The managing director and editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Compass daily newspaper has been shot during an attack in the country's southwest.

The newspaper said in a statement on Tuesday that Sina Kawonise was shot in the leg during the attack while travelling through the Osun state.

The newspaper said a police officer travelling with him was also shot, but both survived.

Mohammed Garba, the president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, said he was aware of the attack, but didn't believe it involved politics as others were violently robbed along the same highway at the same time.

The newspaper said, however, that Kawonise recently received unspecified threats over the internet.

Security agencies and thugs routinely harass and beat journalists in Nigeria.

Eighteen journalists have been killed in Nigeria since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

- SAPA