Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri April 22, 2020 | EASTERN PILOT The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned the governor of Ebonyi Sta...
Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
April 22, 2020 | EASTERN PILOT
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, on alleged harassment of journalists in the state.
According to a press statement by the media and publicity secretary of the group, Emma Powerful, IPOB enjoined the governor to face his governance of the state rather than frustrating the newsmen on duty.
Powerful also reminded Governor Umahi to deal with the situation of incessant herdsmen attack on citizens of the state and alleged genocides.
Specifically, the group urged Governor Umahi to stop intimidating the Sun newspaper correspondent, Chijioke Agwu and his Vanguard counterpart, insisting that they were only doing their job.
The statement reads: “Dave Umahi has not stopped harassing and giving threatening messages to journalists in Ebonyi State over their insistence in exposing (anomalies) through their factual reports.
“There is ongoing genocides and unprovoked attacks against hapless Ebonyi people by Fulani herdsmen, terrorists, and security operatives in some instances. Governor Dave Umahi and his foot soldiers in Abakiliki Government House have never hidden their sympathy for the Fulani cabals behind the mass atrocities in Biafra land including Ebonyi State just because of his selfish political ambition.
“In the last four days, Governor Dave Umahi has ordered the arrest of Sun Newspaper’s correspondent in Ebonyi state, Mr Chijioke Agwu. Not done yet, on Tuesday 21st of April 2020, the LGA chairman in Ebonyi State who was acting on the instructions of Dave Umahi ordered the arrest of Mr Peter Okutu, the Vanguard newspaper’s correspondent in the state.
“These journalists committed no crime other than exposing the atrocities of terrorists and security agents against innocent Biafrans in Ebonyi State.
“We, therefore, want to put the world on notice how this saboteur governor is conniving with the enemies to suppress his own people. We equally want to remind Gov. Umahi that we have been watching and monitoring his actions. His recent antics to arrest innocent journalists for reporting the truth will not go unpunished.
“It remains a puzzle that Governor Dave Umahi will turn a blind eye during Fulani herdsmen invasion as well as soldiers’ and police killing of innocent people in his state only to resort to intimidation and arrest of innocent journalists for reporting the truth.
“We advise Dave Umahi and his agents to retrace their steps because on the day of reckoning, their slave masters in Abuja and Sokoto cannot save them.
“Governor Dave Umahi must stop his infamous clamp down on innocent journalists because they committed no crime against his government. It is the right and duty of journalists as the watchdog of society, to expose atrocities of both criminals and state actors for the good of all.
“IPOB will no longer tolerate intimidation, humiliation and arrest of innocent Biafrans including journalists and other residents for no just cause,” the statement concludes.
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