NUJ bans Coverage in Ezza North After Journalists Attacked
The Ebonyi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has instructed its members to cease coverage of activities in Ezza North Local Government Area.
This decision was outlined in a communiqué issued after the State Council Congress at the Sam Egwu Press Centre in Abakaliki on Tuesday.
The communiqué, signed by the council’s chairman, Comrade Sampson Nwafor, and Secretary, Comrade Nnamdi Akpa, followed an incident on June 15, 2024, where journalists Uchenna Inya of Sun Newspaper, Chinelo Okoro, and Sir Godwin Oguta of FRCN Unity FM, Abakaliki, were attacked by suspected hoodlums during a coronation event in the Nkomoro community of Ezza North LGA.
The union condemned in the strongest terms the attack on three members of the union, describing it as crude, barbaric, and a clear attempt to intimidate, subdue, and force journalists into self-censorship.
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The Union bemoaned the unconcerned attitude of the people of Nkomoro community about the unprovoked attack, as they are yet to sympathize with the victims more than four days after the incident.
The Union added that this attitude indicates that the attack was carefully and deliberately planned and executed by the entire community.
The council stated that the ban on coverage is necessary pending when relevant authorities and stakeholders of the council area prevail on the people of Nkomoro community, or better still, the perpetrators of the dastardly act, to adequately compensate the victims for their losses during the attack and tender an unreserved written apology to them, copying the NUJ as a body.
The council also resolved to sanction any member who flouts this directive.
The Union further noted the alleged role played in the dastardly act by one Oscar Nwafor and his group, including Samuel Nnoko, Livinus Eze, Obiora Ezaka, Cletus Igwe, and Joseph Oganyi, and called on the concerned authorities to arrest and prosecute them to serve as a deterrent to others.
