The Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ) ,Aba Federated Chapel, Abia
State, has condemned the harassment and arrest of newspaper vendors in
Aba, saying it is unfortunate that such a thing is happening in the 21
century where security agents ought to know the importance of the press.
Chairman of the NUJ Aba Federated chapel, Mr Godfrey Ofurum , who stated
this while reacting to reports of raids on newspaper stands and arrest
of vendors in Aba by policemen and soldiers , warned that the
development doesn’t portend well for the society and urged the security
heads in the state to stop the excesses of their men.
Chairman, Newspapers and Magazines Distributors Association, Aba
chapter, Chief Ike C. Ike, lamented that policemen and soldiers
confiscate their newspapers and arrest their members whenever there is
any security challenge in the state.
Ofurum said that both the press and the security agencies are partners
in progress to serve the people in different capacities and synergize
for the good of all.
“If police have anything for the masses, they need the press. If police
and other security agencies should suppress the press in Aba, they have
not done well. According to reports, not even a single reason was given
for their actions. Therefore, NUJ Aba Federated Chapel condemned this
unfortunate development, we are against it, and we call on police and
military authorities in Abia as well as the state and federal
governments to look into this matter urgently.
“It’s unheard of that there would be a security challenge that has
nothing to do with the press, newspapers will be impounded and vendors
arrested. Without sales, how do they want newspaper publishers and
vendors to continue in business? This is something the government should
look into and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
However, chairman of the Newspaper Association, laments that the police
have made newspapers vendors targets for extortion, stressing “that
anytime there is a security challenge in Aba, it is we the newspaper
distributors that suffer the loss, as police and other agencies will
come to news stand, confiscate newspapers.”
He described newspaper distributors as partners with journalists and
publishers on information dissemination, stressing that what they sell
to readers and customers are not their products but products of
registered national dailies.
“You all can see that no national or regional newspaper is selling well
in Aba again because of these harassments. Vendors are now afraid of
opening their stands. We want to ask, is our business now illegal? Is
selling of Newspapers now a crime?
“And from what we’ve gathered, this problem is only in Aba. Why should
security agencies see vendors as their problem? Last week when a police
station was burnt, police came to all the newspaper stands in Aba and
packed all the national dailies, magazines and other regional newspapers
there.”
Ike said that publishers of newspapers and magazines and vendors are now
finding it impossible to feed their families due to the activities of
soldiers and policemen in Aba.
“We are suffering and we want this evil to end. We are only marketing a
product. We are not journalists nor are we publishers. Even government
revenue contractors have also joined in making the sale of newspapers
impossible. What is really happening here?
“We need help. From Brass Junction, MCC Junction, Alaoji and Ogbor-Hill,
no newspaper stand is safe from harassment anymore. They will carry
these papers and will not tell us the stations they came from. We cannot
even retrieve our papers anymore.”