Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has condemned the attack on
journalists covering the ongoing screening of Commissioner nominees in
Ebonyi state House of Assembly by political thugs numbering over 40.
The journalists include Correspondent of Nation Newspapers, Mr.
Ogochukwu Anioke, Correspondent of Pilot Newspapers, Mr. Samson Nwafor,
correspondent of Blaze 91.5 FM, Mr. Nnaji Emmanuel and Grace Egbo of
Tribune Newspapers.
The thugs who were led by the member representing Afikpo South West
constituency in the Assembly, Nkemka Onuma descended on the journalists
and inflicted injuries on three of them; Ogochukwu Anioke of the Nation
newspaper, Samson Nwafor of the Pilot Newspaper and a pregnant
journalist, Mrs. Grace Egbo of the Tribune Newspaper who was hit on her
stomach and face.
Onuma during the melee, threatened to prevent journalists from covering
the state Assembly, describing them as touts.
After attacking the Journalists, the thugs also held one of them, Anioke
hostage inside the Assembly premises by ordering the gateman to lock
the gate as he made effort to drive out of the Assembly complex in
Nkaliki road Abakaliki.
It took the intervention of the Chairman of NUJ, Comrade Tony Nwizi to
prevent further attack on the journalists and vandalization of their
vehicles by forcefully opening the entrance gate which aided their
escape.
The incident happened after the screening of one of the nominees which
was fraught with some irregularities as the speaker of the House,
Francis Nwifuru noticed that the year of his graduation from
Primary School did not correspond with the year he started secondary
school on his documents.
Nwifuru had asked him to explain how he started secondary school a year
before the year he graduated from primary school as stated in his result
but he could not give any reasonable answer to the query.
Reacting to the attack on the journalists, National President of NUJ,
Comrade Chris Isiguzo who condemned the action of Onuma and his thugs,
demanded apology for his action.
He also ordered that the medical bills of the victims should be taken
care of by the lawmaker.
“I am yet to get the full details of what really happened in Ebonyi
state House of Assembly but if what we read is anything to go by, it is
shocking and totally unbecoming for an Honourable member of a House of
Assembly to have abandoned his legislative duty to begin to unleash
mayhem on innocent journalists in Ebonyi state.
“It is totally unacceptable to us and we demand that Ebonyi state House
of Assembly should not just apologized to those people that were
manhandled, they should also make sure that they are taken care of in
the hospital because I learnt that one or two of those people is already
in the hospital. So, they should take care of their bills in the
hospital and assured us of their safety in that House of Assembly.
“There is no way that the legislature which is of course part of the
ingredients of democracy in governance will still be the one to cause
trouble or problem to the safety of journalists in Ebonyi state. so,
the attack is totally unacceptable and we think in the next couple of
hours, the House of Assembly should do the needful”.
On the threat to prevent journalists from covering activities of the
Assembly, Isiguzo said “the lawmaker in question does not have powers to
stop journalists from covering the Assembly as he threatened. It is a
public place and it does not belong to that particular lawmaker or the
Speaker. It is a public institution and they don’t have right or such
powers to bar any journalist from covering the state House of Assembly,
it will never happen. If they try it, we will take the next line of
action. They can’t even try it, the lawmaker was only trying to
grandstand”.