On 8 November 2009, Real Tamale United supporters assaulted reporter Kwabena Ntow for alleged biased reporting about their club.
(MFWA/IFEX) – On November 8, 2009, a group of supporters of Real Tamale United (RTU), a football club in Tamale, capital of the Northern Region of Ghana, assaulted Kwabena Ntow, a reporter for Fila FM in Tamale and a correspondent for the privately-owned Peace FM in Accra for alleged biased reporting about their club.
Narrating his ordeal to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Ntow said the incident occurred at the Tamale Sports stadium, where he had gone to cover a league match between RTU and Wa All Stars.
According to the journalist, one of the supporters beat him up in the presence of the club secretary, Joe Harry Dua Baba, resulting in an injury to his chin.
“I was in the lobby of the dressing room to conduct a post match interview. It was at this time that one of the supporters confronted me and started to beat me up. They claimed I had been biased in reporting about the club. It was the chairman of RTU and the head coach Abdul Razak who came to my rescue by sending me into the dressing room.”
The journalist alleged that in the dressing room, Dua Baba justified the action of the supporters by accusing him of biased reporting about the club.
When MFWA contacted Joe Kadil, chairman of RTU, he confirmed saving the reporter from the angry mob of RTU supporters. He added that the club has nothing against Ntow.
MFWA is urging the Tamale Central Police to immediately investigate the incident and quickly bring the perpetrators to book.
