Skip to main content

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.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REAL MADRID FC MOVES UP LA LIGA TABLE FOLLOWING LEVANTE VICTORY

Real Madrid moved to the top of La Liga on Sunday as Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema both scored in a 2-0 win over Levante. Vinicius, who had proved decisive in Madrid’s win over Real Valladolid on Wednesday, looked set to see off Levante as well, before Benzema notched his first goal of the season late on. Madrid have now recorded three clean sheets from their four opening games, although a draw away at Real Sociedad has given an early advantage to Barcelona, who play away at Sevilla later on Sunday. “We had to suffer,” said Zinedine Zidane. “We had chances in the second half to kill the game and that would have made it different. We suffered a lot because they also had chances.” Madrid and Barca had earlier played out the first ever women’s Clasico after Madrid finally launched their female team this season. Yet Barcelona showed their superiority in a 4-0 rout. But the men’s team have become something of a defensive juggernaut under Zidane after their solidity and resilience formed...
Post a Comment
Read more

GOVERNOR IKPEAZU FIRES TRANSPORT COMMISSIONER

By: Elvis Joseph Abia State Governor has sacked his  Commissioner of Transport, Ekele Nwaohammuo. This was contained in a statement titled, ‘Government special announcement’ by Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Anthony Agbazuere, on Sunday.   It added that the Transition Committee Chairmen for Aba North, Victor Ubani; Aba South Cherechi, Wogu and Ibe Local Government Areas, Umunnoechi Mathew were also suspended. The statement read, “The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D. has approved the immediate suspension of the following. “The General Manager of Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State. “The Transition Committee Chairman of Aba South Local Government Area. “The Transition Committee Chairman of Aba North Local Government Area. “The Governor has also relieved the Commissioner of Transport, Barr. Ekele Nwaohammuo of his appointment as Honourable Commissioner. “The Transition Committee Chairman of Umuneochi LGA, Engr. Mathew Ibe has equally ...
Post a Comment
Read more

OYO ASSEMBLY HOLDS SPECIAL SESSION FOR FORMER GOVERNOR

By: Teni Aluko The Oyo state house of Assemby today held a special sitting in honour of the former governor of Oyo state Senator Abiola Ajimobi who left for the great beyond exactly week ago.  Abiola Ajimobi was the Oyo state governor between 2011-2019. He worked meritoriously and recorded quite a lot of landmarks during his tenure. Ajimobi was appointed Deputy National chairman South of the All progressives Congress before he died last week Thursday. The Speaker of the House of Assembly Rt Hon Debo Ogundoyin in his speech said the late governor was able to change the political landscape of the State through his three points agenda of Restoration, Transformation and Repositioning. ”He also  made his impact in governance, he greatly improved the environmental sanitation of the state especially in the Capital City of Ibadan.” Other lawmakers who spoke at the special sitting described Ajimobi as a great man whose immense contribution to the development of the state cannot be easi...
Post a Comment
Read more