Kogi NUJ cautions politicians against dragging members into blame game »

The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Kogi state Council, Comrade Adeiza Momohjimoh has warned politicians not to drag the union into their murky political waters especially at this electioneering period.

The Chairman gave the warning on Sunday in a press conference held at the union’s conference hall in Lokoja.

According to him “Our attention has been drawn to some reports in the media by politicians since the conduct of APC governorship primary in Kogi State, trying to condemn the exercise and in a way impugning on the integrity of journalists and our various media houses.

“The report claimed that no election was held anywhere in the state and that the results were cooked and announcement made.

“I want to put it on record that our members (journalists) went to the field on the election day and monitored the process across the state.

He informed that Audio, videos and pictorials evidence of the exercise were gotten from the field by journalists while monitoring the process and reports were sent to various media houses, based on their observations on the field.

He said his members were fair enough to report places where voting started early and some other places where there were delay in arrival of electoral materials and officials as it’s typical of Nigerian elections.

“Having monitored and reported the process in our media outlets, journalists converged at the collation center at the State APC secretariat in Lokoja and stayed up till 3am in the morning of Saturday to also cover the collation and declaration of results.

“For any aggrieved politician to now assert that all these sacrifices done by journalists amounted to colluding to declare concocted results, is not just far from the truth but showing disrespect for journalists and their media organisations.

“For us at the Kogi NUJ, we stand by the reports of journalists as published in their various media outlets on the conduct of the election.

“We want to use this medium to advise our politicians to use the prescribed ways of seeking redress whenever the outcome of elections are not favourable to them rather than resorting to blackmail and attempting to pull everything down.

“I wish to also urge all journalists in the state to continue to uphold the ethical standards of the profession throughout this election season and beyond” He counselled.
The Chairman how ever advised aspirants who lost at the primaries, to know that journalists are not and will never be their problems as they go in search of solution to their problems.