The Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Kayode AKinmade, today barred state correspondents of The Nation and National Mirror newspapers from covering a post national conference summit tagged Youths Today.
The commissioner’s order was conveyed to the affected reporters by the leadership of the state Correspondents’ Chapel.
The state government was said to have been offended by the reports carried by the two newspapers that an Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, berated Governor Olusegun Mimiko for turning an earlier summit into a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, affair.
Akinmade, who also barred the two correspondent from reporting the activities of the state government, accused them of unfavourable disposition to the state government.
The summit, which was held at the Adegbemile Cultural Center, Akure, was organised by the state government.
It was attended by youths from the South West states of Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Osun and Ondo, the host state.
The meeting featured a lecture titled National Confab Recommendation and The Nigerian Youth and was chaired by Professor Dupe Olatubosun.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state has blamed the gathering of the South-West youths, where President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election was endorsed, on the resultant effect of unemployment and poverty in the land.
The Party said the endorsement of President Jonathan by students and youth groups sponsored by Governor Olusegun Mimiko did not reflect the wishes and yearnings of people in the region.
The APC State Publicity Secretary, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, stated at a press conference in Akure that it was disheartening to see Governor Mimiko manipulating the same youths, whose future had been destroyed through unemployment and poverty ravaging in the country.
He said: “It is common in the country to see a 30-year-old man still living under the roof of his parents, even after completing his higher education. Millions of our young graduates are walking on the streets daily in search jobs or how to earn a living.
“It is sad that Mimiko has impoverished the youths so as to use them for political gains. We feel sad anytime we think about the welfare of our youths. These young Nigerians who are supposed to be our future leaders have been made to pass through an unwholesome situation.
“Most of the youth that graced the Post Confab Summit came because of what would accrue into their pockets. It will be unfair if we say students and youth groups should not collect their shares of President Jonathan’s largesse from Governor Mimiko.
“We can only advise the youth groups and students to collect the money and vote for a man with proven integrity, experience and competence to govern Nigeria, where their future would be guaranteed.
“We wonder why Governor Mimiko needs to bribe people to endorse President Jonathan? However, he can continue to bribe everybody, but our people are now wiser. He needs to realise this fact”.
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