NUJ To FG: Stop Case Against LEADERSHIP Journalists Now

The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called on the Federal Government to permanently drop the charges against LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group and two of its staff members. The NUJ made this call in a statement by its national secretary, Shuaibu Usman Leman in Abuja yesterday. The apex body of all journalists in Nigeria also described the ongoing trial of LEADERSHIP’s Group News Editor, Mr. Tony Amokeodo and senior correspondent, Chibuzo Ukaibe, as dastardly action which has become a dent to Nigeria’s image and the quest for a free press. The NUJ said: “While we concede to the fact that the media like any section of the Nigerian society have not been insulated from the corrupt tendencies of the Nigerian society, but we dare say that if it were not for the dynamism and vibrant nature of the Nigerian media, Nigeria would have imploded by now.

“The biggest beneficiaries of the tenacity of the media in Nigeria are President Goodluck Jonathan and his fellow politicians who now hold sway in the corridors of power.” The NUJ further stated that it was regrettable that the media is today being persecuted by the same government it assisted in nurturing, describing the situation as mischievous, a deliberate attempt to malign the press and to distort history continued