The Abia state governor, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has said the state will continue to roll out palliatives to mitigate the effects of stay-at-home in the state, maintaining that the lockdown put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 is still in place.

While encouraging the people to obey the lockdown, the governor maintained that such palliatives will be sent to the people in their various communities through churches, 17 Local Government Councils in liaison with Traditional Rulers, President-Generals and women leaders.

Following the purported ban placed on two journalists in Ebonyi state from visiting the Government House or any government facility in the State, the umbrella body of journalists in Nigeria, the NUJ has warned the state governor, Dave Umahi to tread with caution and put his act of impunity under control, warning that the union will hold him accountable if anything untoward happens to any journalist in the state.

Describing the purported ban as a joke taken too far, the union wondered where the governor derived his power to stop journalists on lawful duty from accessing public places, insisting that he or any other government official has no right to determine media contents.

In a release signed by the Union’s National Secretary, Shuaibu Usman Leman, and made available to ABN TV, NUJ while warning that it cannot condone attempts by the governor to destroy the profession and practitioners in the state accused him of instigating attacks on its members.

“The NUJ National Secretariat condemns the continuous desperate action of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State to destroy Journalists and Journalism in his state. The most recent development in which Governor Umahi was instigating attacks against Journalists in the State is frightening to the Union as it signals clearly that such attacks on the media are not going to abate any soon.

“We regret to note that Governor Umahi is ingloriously attaining notoriety in his continuous harassment, detentions and insults on Journalists who dare to report what he feels are against the interest of his government. As professionals whose responsibility is to monitor governance and hold Government accountable to the masses, Journalists now live in perpetual fear of being arrested by security operatives or attacked by faceless assailants without any just cause in Ebonyi State.

“The NUJ has repeatedly cautioned against such acts of impunity and stressed that it is worth noting that press freedom is key to achieving credible democracy and this freedom includes the right to seek and receive information from all available sources to enable formulation of proper opinions to whomsoever one desires and to do so through whichever means it is feasible to communicate. Such attacks we believe are meant to curtail such freedoms.

“In the light of these unabated attacks and intimidation of Journalists, we call once more on Governor Umahi to tread with caution because the Union will hold him personally responsible for any untoward action on Journalists in Ebonyi State,” the union said.

The Nigeria Union of Journalists also informed Governor that both the Union and respective media organisations have their own procedures of disciplining journalists who are deemed to have stepped out of bounds, emphasising that the union will not keep quiet in the face of what they called brazen attempt to muzzle press freedom which it described as a critical ingredient for democratic governance.