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NUJ TELLS FFK TO PROPERLY DIRECT HIS APOLOGY TO CHARLES EYO AND PRACTITIONERS

 By:  Damian Benson


The chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State chapter, Dr. Qasim Akinreti, has implored the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NUJ at the national level to set up a disciplinary committee on journalists that were asking for forgiveness while their colleague was being humiliated by former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani Kayode in Cross River State. 

The NUJ chairman who is also a lecturer at Nigerian Institute of Journalism called for this action while he was being interrogated via telephone calls by Wemimo Adewuni on Morning CrossFire, Nigeria Info 99.3 FM today, Wednesday 26 August, adding that the humiliation of a journalist is an insult to journalists in general and journalism as a profession. 

Dr. Akinreti said he stood by the Daily Trust reporter, Charles Eyo, as he felt that the question he asked Fani Kayode was a probing question which is acceptable in journalism; adding that the former Minister of Aviation should have responded to the question in a jesting manner, not in a violent mood. 

Akinreti said Charles had on Thursday, August 20, 2020, during a roundtable with invited journalists in Calabar, asked Fani-Kayode to explain who is sponsoring his trips from one state to another "to supervise projects."

He added that the minister's response should have been "gentleman, I wouldn't expect such a question from you, but my brother, I am not bankrolled by anybody as you had asked".

In response to a caller, Dennis's question who called from Ikotun, Lagos that what would have been the NUJ chairman if he were the one being insulted. The chairman said he could not be in such a situation with his almost 2 decades in practice as a journalist but reiterated that he would rather walk away and let him know that he had disappointed the nation in general as a statesman.

Most of the callers to the program were of the position that the former Minister of Aviation had done wrong for calling a journalist stupid while some looked at the other side by saying the journalists shouldn't have asked such a question. 

In response to those that said such a question shouldn't have been asked, Akinreti said journalists were trained to ask probing but not patronizing questions to take the interviewees accountable, especially the public figure personalities. 

Wemimo told the NUJ chairman and the listeners of 99.3 FM that the former minister had just tweeted with words of apology while the conversation was still going on at that moment where he stated: " I met with my adviser, I hereby withdraw my word 'stupid' and I never meant to harm the reporter".

"The apology should be to Charles Eyo in particular and the minister should apologize to the journalism practitioners in general before his apology could be accepted," Dr. Akinreti said.


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