Owerri, Aug.30, 2018
Journalists in Imo on Thursday joined their counterparts in the country to stage peaceful protest against incessant harassment, intimidation and unwarranted detention of their colleagues allegedly by some security agencies.
The group was led by the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Mr Francis Ebunugwo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the journalists were seen marching round the vicinity of the council with placards of various inscriptions such as: “Enough is Enough” and “Journalists should be protected, “ Journalists deserve better treatment,” adding that “there should be press freedom in Nigeria.”
In his remarks, Ebunugwo urged the Federal Government to address “reckless impunity against journalists. “
He said that the perpetrators of “reckless impunity against journalists “should allow them to carry out their duties unhindered and stressed the need for press freedom to end impunity.
Contributing, a former Chairman of the council, Mr Fidel Onyeneke, said no country could disregard the work of journalists, describing journalism as the link between the government and the governed.
He stressed the need to tackle the illegality, adding that there was no rationale for the seeming clampdown against journalism profession in the country.
“This has to stop; we appeal to the Federal Government to ensure there is a total implementation of the Free of Information Act,“ he said.
Also contributing, the immediate past chairman of the council, Mr Innocent Igwe, maintained that there was no quarrel between journalists and government at various levels.
He also called for freedom of the press to allow practitioners perform their duty to society, undeterred.
