From: Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
Journalists in the country have been urged to put pressure on the Federal Government to as a matter of necessity publish names of alleged sponsors and financers of the dreaded Boko Haram militants and other bandits oppressing Nigerians.
The call was made by the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Bauchi State Chapter, Rev Dr Abraham Damina Dimeus in his sermon during the special Church service on Sunday at Bishara Baptist Church, Bauchi to make the 2021 Bauchi State Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Week.
He stressed that the Journalists can do that true accurate, fair, unbiased and factual news reports, features, commentaries, opinions and editorial because according to him, that is the only way to go about fighting the insurgency war.
Abraham Dimeus declared that, “since it is in every public domain that the sponsors and financers are known, a development government has not denied, then, the names should be made official and public so that Nigerians will know the faces of those who have endangered our lives over the years”.
Taking his text from the Book of Jeremiah 5:1-2, he said that, “many innocent lives have been lost, valuable properties have been lost, we need to know those behind all these callousness and wanton destruction of lives and properties”.
He further said that, “there must be concerted efforts to end banditry, kidnapping, killing and other forms of criminality that have become the order of the day. We are tired of all these atrocities, we need peace, we need tranquility, we need to sleep with all our eyes closed”.
The CAN Chairman admonished Journalists to be, “fearless, courageous, objective, fair and more importantly professional and ethical in the line of your duties, tell it the way it is, don’t relent, don’t mince words because the society is eagerly waiting to hear it from you”.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bauchi State council, Comrade Umar Sa’idu said that the focus of the Press Week is to promote unity, oneness and togetherness by working Journalists in the state.
Represented by Ishola Michael, the NUJ Chairman stressed that the country as it is now needs divine intervention to be able to overcome the myriad of security challenges facing it saying that the situation is so bad that only God can make things better.
Umar Sa’idu also said that the theme of the 2021 Press Week is ‘Insecurity, Economy issues in Nigeria: Role of the Media’ aimed at highlighting the key role the media must play in order to get the country out of the logjam it finds itself.
