Date Published: 09/21/09
Press Statement
NUJ Abuja Alarmed at Assassination of Guardian Reporter, Condoles Family
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Council has expressed alarm over the murder of Bayo Ohu, an Assistant News Editor with The Guardian Newspapers in the early hours Sunday, September 20, 2009 at his residence in Lagos.
In a statement in Abuja, the Council said it was horrified over the mindless and cowardly assassination of the Late Ohu by those it referred to as godless, evil and against free press in the country.
The statement which was signed by the chairman of the NUJ Abuja Council, Mr. Jacob Edi said given the enormity of the danger posed by the renewed onslaught on journalists and the profession, the Council was convening an emergency congress to take a holistic view of the present threat to the lives of journalists albeit the practice of journalism in the country.
Edi lamented that with the stockpiling of guns by unscrupulous and desperate politicians and businessmen in the country, the terrain becomes even more dangerous for journalists to ply their trade.
While condoling the family of the deceased and the management of The Guardian over the brutal murder, he charged the police to leave nothing to chance in unraveling those behind the dastardly act, noting that nearly three years after the murder of Godwin Agbroko, the Editorial Board Chairman of ThisDay newspaper, and the killing of Abayomi Ogundeji, also a member of the Editorial Board of ThisDay newspaper on August 17 last year, the police was yet to have a clue to those behind the brutal killings of these journalists.
The NUJ chairman called on the federal authorities to take the issue of security serious in the country stressing that it was the duty of the government to take the welfare and security of its citizens serious, warning that the continued politicization of security matters would not augur well for the country.
