Journalists in Enugu State, on Wednesday condemned totally, the reported detention of a journalist by Nsukka Local Government councillors.
The Enugu based reporter had gone to the Nsukka Local Government Secretariat on the invitation of the council’s committee chairman on information, Mr. Onyechi Malachy.
However, instead of the supposed interview for which he was invited, Onyechi, alongside ten other councilors allegedly locked the reporter in the office of the leader of the council and threatened to kill him, if he failed to mention the source behind an earlier publication concerning the council.
It took the intervention of three other journalists who were alerted to the place via mobile phone, before the councillors could free the detained journalist.
Reacting to the incident, journalists in both Enugu, the state capital and Nsukka described it as shocking and condemnable.
The Journalists said should the council fail to take appropriate steps to address the incident, they would henceforth boycott the coverage of all activities involving the local government. In a press statement made available to journalists in Enugu, the Nsukka Federated Correspondents’ Chapel described the attack and detention as “a most dishonourable and barbaric act unexpected of lawmakers”.
The chapel said it was unbecoming of councilors to turn around and detain a journalist who had come all the way from Enugu to Nsukka on their invitation.
The statement, which was signed by the Chairman of the chapel, Elder Kassidy Uchendu, read in parts: “We wish to express our anger to the unprecedented attack on an Enugu based journalist by some members of the Nsukka Local Government Legislative Council. We take exception to this kind of illegality and obvious rascality from lawmakers.
“We consider it quite weird for these councilors to detain the journalist and threaten to kill him if he failed to disclose the source of his information. We learnt that he was saved through the intervention of three journalists from our chapel, who were alerted to the place. The councilors were not ready to let go of the reporter. This is strange and we condemn it in strong terms.
“We are calling on the Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area, Hon. Tony Ugwu to call these councilors to order to avoid a repeat of such incident. We also demand a letter of apology and undertaking from these councilors, who are bent at dealing with a journalists for performing their duties.
“They should also desist from further harassment, abuse or intimidation of journalists. Failure to do so, we shall not hesitate to mobilize all our members both within and outside the state to ensure that all activities in Nsukka Local Government Area are boycotted by the media”.
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