#EndSARS: NUJ Enugu Council Frowns at Fake News Publications, Omission of Journalists on List of Essential Workers,
By Chris Ugeuja, Nsukka
The Enugu State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has held its October Congress, frowning at journalists that publish fake news and what it described as deliberate omission journalists as essential workers during the curfew ordered by the state government.
After the congress held on Thursday, the council council condemned in totality, the killings in the state during the #ENDSARS Protest, which was hijacked by hoodlums that also led to wanton destruction of lives and property.
The council also condemned “in its entirety the gruesome murder of policemen during the violent protest and commiserates with the police and the victims’ families.”
While commending Enugu State government for setting up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the killings and the violence, the NUJ urged the relevant authorities to fish out the culprits and punish them adequately to serve as deterrent to others.
The state council then condoled “with families that lost their loved ones in the protest and encourages them to leverage on the panel set up by the state government to seek Justice.”
The council observed with concern the multiple blockades in some major roads in the metropolis which has led to gridlock and enjoined the state government and relevant security agencies to remove them in order to ease traffic.
The NUJ also observed “the presence of Forest Guards who Mount road blocks and advised that they focus on guarding the forest, which is their primary duty call”, as well as called on “the traffic agents of the ministry of transportation (MOT) to live up to their responsibility.“
The NUJ noted that the “deliberate omission of the fourth estate of the realm by the state government in categories of exempted essential duty workers during the curfew, is observed with concern as some security personnel capitalized on it to harass some Media workers; and called on government to treat the media with respect.”
The council called for lifting of curfew imposed on three LGAs that make up the Enugu metropolis, frowning at “journalists that churn out fake news such that could cause disaffection in society and warns them to desist from the act.”
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