The International Press Center, IPC, has condemned attacks on journalists by a member of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Nkemka Onuma.
Mr. Onuma, who is representing Afikpo South-West was alleged to have attacked the journalists using men suspected to be thugs.
The incident took place at the assembly complex.
Director of the IPC, Lanre Arogundade, in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lagos, decried the attacks and demanded that the lawmaker and those who perpetuated the “callous and dastard act” be brought to justice.
According to the reports by Sun Newspapers dated July 30, 2019, the incident happened after the screening of one of the commissioner nominees, which was fraught with irregularities, as the speaker, Francis Nwifuru, noticed that the year the nominee purportedly left primary school was not in sync with the year he started secondary school, according to his documents.
The suspected thugs reportedly assaulted Ogochukwu Anioke of The Nation newspaper, Samson Nwafor of Nigerian Pilot and Mrs. Grace Egbo of Tribune, who was pregnant.
Arogundade noted that the harassment of journalists and especially the attack on the pregnant journalist “is barbaric, an assault to democratic principles and also an escalating attack against press freedom that is being waged by tyrants in Nigeria.”
The statement signed by Melody Akinjiyan on behalf of the IPC Director, said further: “It is laudable that NAWOJ plans to protest the attacks on the pregnant journalist, other media stakeholders and professional bodies should also commit to ensure that all relevant government authorities’ hands are on deck so that perpetrators are punished.”
