NUJ Frowns At Invasion of The Sun Newspapers By EFCC, Demands Apology

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned in the strongest terms the invasion of the premises of The Sun Newspapers in Lagos by Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday.

Reacting to this ugly development in Abuja, NUJ National President, Abdulwaheed Odusile, said that the union was truly worried that at a time when the Nigerian security forces need the support and cooperation of the media in fighting terrorism, corruption and other criminal activities in the country, the media is now being attacked by the same security operatives.

Odusile noted that there can be no valid explanation to this act of intimidation by the EFCC which swooped on the premises of the newspapers, preventing the staff from either gaining entrance or exit. This unfortunately led to the disruption of operations particularly the circulation of the newspapers.

The NUJ President stated that in a democracy, “security personnel should not be seen to be intimidating the media no matter the perceived offence, rather civilised means and ways should be employed to check any excesses or misdemeanour.”

The NUJ president said it was more worrisome “when such an invasion was carried out without any cogent reason, thus giving the impression that the action was merely a political act aimed at instilling fear into the organisation.”

While expressing the union’s regrets of “this violation of press freedom and freedom of journalists to work without being molested,” Odusile said “the EFCC will do well to unconditionally apologise for this untoward act in the interest of our democracy because the media remain the only voice of the masses.”