by
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ebonyi State Council, has sent a petitioned the Nigerian Police (NPF) and the Department of State Services (DSS), over attack on its members at Nkomoro in Ezza North Local Government Area of the state.
Hoodlums had attacked three journalists who were invited to cover last Saturday’s June 15, 2024 coronation ceremony in the community.
The affected Journalists are: Mr Inya Uchenna of The Sun newspaper, Chinelo Okoro and Sir Godwin Oguta, both of FRCN, Unity FM, Abakaliki.
The petition entitled ‘UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON JOURNALISTS AT NKOMORO COMMUNITY, IN EZZA NORTH LGA, EBONYI STATE’ was signed by the Council’s Chairman, Sampson Nwafor, and Nnamdi Akpa, Secretary.
The petition said crisis broke out during the event allegedly orchestrated by a group opposed to the coronation.
According to the petition, the attack was led by one Oscar Nwafor and his cohorts, including Samuel Nnoko, Livinus Eze, Obiora Ezaka, Cletus Igwe and Joseph Oganyi.
The petition stated that rather than directing their attacks on the people they had issues with, they chose to attack journalists who had been unbiasedly covering all interest groups involved in the coronation imbroglio.
The petition added, “From credible accounts of the incident, the perpetrators of this dastard act are fully in the know of the identities of these Journalists; moreso as the car conveying them, has visible insignia that fully identified them as Journalists, yet, they went ahead to unleash attack on them.
“The vehicle of Mr Inya Uchenna was badly damaged by this hoodlums even as they escaped death by whiskers. This, to say the least, is another sad reminder of the danger being faced on a daily basis by Journalists in the line of duty.
“Most worrisome is the unconcerned attitude of the People of Nkomoro Community especially their Stakeholders about this unprovoked attack as they are yet to sympathize with the victims of this attack more than four days after the incident. We view this total lack of empathy by the people of Nkomoro Community to mean that the attack on the three Journalists was carefully and deliberately planned and executed by the entire community.
“It’s against this backdrop that the NUJ prays thus:That the Ebonyi State Police Command should fish out the Perpetrators of this dastardly act and be made to face the full weight of the laws.
“That the Police should compel the perpetrators to pay for the damages they have caused the three Journalists mentioned above, apologize to them in writing and copy the NUJ as a body . That Oscar Nwafor and his cohorts should be made to write a letter of an undertaking that they should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to any of the three Journalists.
“This is very important because information at our disposal says that Oscar Nwafor and his cohorts, are still threatening to still deal with one of the victims of their attack, Mr Inya Uchenna.
“That the Police should please take any further action(s) it deems necessary aimed at punishing the perpetrators of this crime against the Journalists whose only offence was doing their constitutional duty, to serve as deterrent to others.”
