Journalists boycott Ebonyi Govt activities over banning of colleagues

The Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ebonyi State, on Friday, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Commissioner for Information, Uchenna Orji, to apologise for “betrayal”. They accused him of keeping quiet despite the threats, arrests and harassment journalists were facing in the state.

Ebonyi 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.

However, the governor disowned an audio and video recordings circulating on social media claiming he banned two journalists for life for publishing false reports. The governor, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Francis Nwaze, described the audio and video recordings as “doctored’’ and aimed at misleading the public.

At an emergency meeting in Abakaliki, NUJ condemned the arrest of its members and announced a boycott of all government activities, the State Secretary, Samson Nwafor, in a communique, 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 Chapel 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 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.”

On Thursday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) told Umahi to reverse the ban on the pressmen or face legal action.