Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa, has been roundly condemned for reportedly ordering a journalist out of the Assembly complex during a press conference.
Kingsley Chibuike, the House of Assembly Correspondent of Enyimba TV and Radio, was Thursday, allegedly walked out of the Conference Room of the House on the orders of the Speaker.
Piqued by the action of the Speaker, former Secretary to State Government, Abia State, and a veteran journalist, Elder Ralph Egbu, called for a media boycott of the activities of the House.
Egbu who was also a former Commissioner for Information, Abia State, blamed media practitioners for their reluctance in defending their own cause, saying that such a humiliation would not go without a consequence in his active years.
He said: “When people know you are critical they don’t toy with you. When there is a vacuum, people will exploit it. But when people know there is a consequence they will be cautious.
“Boycott that House or start writing deliberately, and they will respect you. But you will not do it. When I was practising, they feared us.”
In his reaction, former Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chikwendu Kanu, said such a behaviour should not be tolerated.
Rt. Hon. Chikwendu who acknowledged the importance of the media in preserving democracy, said it would be wrong to treat journalists with disdain if truly the story were true.
The former Speaker recalled that while he held sway, the House was a home for all visitors.
He said: “When I was speaker, the chamber was always filled to the brim. When you are a presiding officer, not only that your colleagues are assessing your capacity or capability to manage the House, the press is also involved in assessing whatever is happening at the plenary.
“The press is a very important segment of the society. Other commoners are always in the chamber to listen to the proceedings of the House.
“If a journalist is doing his job and he is barred from covering the House, I don’t think it will be condoned.”
Earlier in a statement, former Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, described the action of the Speaker as dictatorial and an attempt to gag the press.
Okiyi who also described the incident as “a new low” in the state, said the action of the Speaker contrasted the humility of the Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on whose wings the Speaker and other Labour Party members came to power.
“The quest to silence free press and muzzle opposition by all means are the hallmarks of dictators empowered by Emperors and it is a big shame that Emeruwa was elected on the ticket of the Labour Party seen by many as a progressive political party.
“I wish to call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leaders of the National Assembly and civil society organisations led by the free press to speak up now and stop the emerging autocracy in Abia State.
The former Commissioner called on the Speaker to tender unreserved apology to the media, and to immediately bring back the Enyimba Correspondent.
“I hereby call on Speaker Emeruwa to, as a matter of urgency, immediately apologise and recall Enyimba TV and Radio journalist to the people’s House and inaugurate Aaron Uzodike at the next legislative date.
“Abia State is not an Empire for an Emperor and his ‘hallelujah officials’ but rather a democratic state under the rule of law with full observance of media freedom and independence.”
