‘..beat a child with one hand..bring him back with the other hand’; Umahi reverses ban on journalists

Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, Tuesday apologized for banning two journalists from entering Ebonyi State Government House and other government facilities for life.

The governor had last week banned two reporters from The Sun and Vanguard newspapers over reports by the two media establishments on happenings in the state.

However, in a statewide broadcast, Umahi described the journalists as partners and pleaded with them to help in building the state.

He said: “In my earlier speeches, I had said that the unfortunate incident with the press was not intentional but I think we are all here to build the state and so, I am asking everybody to disregard whatever that happened and see press as our partners in progress and let us work together.

“We advise them to please crosscheck information because I hear more than you hear. There are certain write-ups that people are sad about and that is why I said please, let everybody come together. As a father, you beat a child with one hand and you bring him back with the other hand.

“I believe strongly that if anybody intentionally wants to pull you down, he can’t pull you down standing. He will also go down with you and he may even rise ahead of you and the single way to succeed in life is to be happy with success.

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“So, I want to invite the press on partnership and also ask them to please help us to build the state. Nobody said you should not report the truth, but don’t report false against us because we know our people as a state is peculiar. Little thing will trigger off a lot of tension.”

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