By Kamsi Anayo
Journalists in Anambra have condemned the l deliberate refusal of the media handlers of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo to invite them to cover state functions.
The aggrieved journalist said that the tendency to prevent journalists from carrying out their responsibility of covering state events has become a curious policy of the state government.
The journalists are worried over the refusal of the Government House to invite media houses to cover the visit
of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the state on Saturday.
The former President was personally received on Saturday at the Anambra International Airport, Umueri by the state governor with other dignitaries for Soludo’s one year anniversary celebration.
Although, the event was a big state event, the state government ensured that journalists were not invited to the event except few electronic media houses.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Anambra Council, Dr. Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, said the present administration has not invited the council to any of its programmes.
He said that the journalists have been left out out of the governor’s one year anniversary, where he is billed to present the scorecard of his stewardship to Ndi-Anambra.
Odogwu said there was no formal invitation given to the council even with its pivotal role as the fourth estate of the realm whose inevitable role is to ensure good and equitable governance for all and sundry.
On his part, Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ in Anambra state, Mr Chuks Ilozue, corroborated what the NUJ chairman said, noting that the current state government has ruled out coverage of its activities by the media houses.
Ilozue who forwarded a message he sent to the Commissioner for Information, Mr Paul Nwosu on the need to factor journalists in during the governor’s one year anniversary and other programmes, lamented that all his efforts to get the government spokesman to recognise the Correspondents in the state have proved unsuccessful as the Information Commissioner was not forthcoming.
He said that the Correspondents’ Chapel didn’t get a formal invitation to witness Soludo’s one year scorecard presentation at the International Convention Center Awka, the Anambra state capital.
Meanwhile the governor’s Press Secretary, Mr Christian Aburime, when contacted to respond on why the journalists were not officially invited to cover Soludo’s one year anniversary on March 25 (today), said there was no formal invitation to the state council of the NUJ.
Aburime explained that invitations were informal and that the governor’s one year anniversary was widely publicised for Anambra people to attend.
He added that announcements were equally placed on various WhatsApp group platforms and other social media handles.
Meanwhile, Gov. Soludo received former President Obasanjo at the Anambra International Airport, Umueri for a Town Hall Meeting where Soludo will present his one-year anniversary scorecard.
