Journalists boycott all Ebonyi govt’s activities, demand apology from commissioner

The Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ebonyi State, has declared that it would henceforth boycott all activities by the Ebonyi State Government in protest against the ban and arrest of its members.

The journalists also gave the state Commissioner for Information, Uchenna Orji, 48 hours to apologise for betraying them, accusing him of keeping quiet despite threats, arrests and harassment journalists were facing in the state.

It would be recalled that the state Governor, David Umahi, had banned Chijioke Agwu, a correspondent with Sun Newspaper, and Peter Okutu, a reporter with Vanguard Newspaper, from the Government House and all state buildings.

The ban came after the Vanguard correspondent, Okutu was arrested at a hotel in the state where a local government chairman had invited him to, over a story.

The journalists, at an emergency meeting in Abakaliki, condemned the arrest of its members and announced a boycott of all government activities.

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The State Secretary, Samson Nwafor, while reading a communque after the meeting, lamented that rather than focusing on the issues, especially the ‘life ban’ on Agwu and Okutu, Uchenna Orji “embarked on pernicious propaganda to save his job and drag members of the Chapel to the mud.

“The purported joint press briefing where our Chairman, Mr. Jacob Ogodo, was quoted to have eulogized the Governor for arresting our members, was a ruse and a calculated attempt to smear the image of the Chapel, its leadership and confuse the general public”.

The Correspondents Chapel further described the commissioner’s action as “an act of betrayal and wish to demand that the Commissioner retract the statement with apologies within 48hours”.

They however commended the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), International Press Council (IPC), Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects (SERAP), Civil Liberty Organisations (CLOs), and Nigerians “for standing by Journalists in Ebonyi State in this trying moment.”

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