The National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has chided the invasion of Federal High Court in Abuja, as well as the rearrest of the convener of #RevolutionNow movement, Omoleye Sowore on Friday.
This is contained in a statement issued by the National Secretary of the Union, Shuaibu Usman Leman and made available to Newsdiaryonline on Saturday.
According to the statement, “NUJ views the absurdities of the ongoing drama by Agents of the Department of Security Service, DSS, with dissatisfaction and disenchantment, especially the unnecessary violation of the sanctity of the court and rearrest of Omoleye Sowore.
“The NUJ, on several occasions, has initiated moves towards fostering safety of journalists and building synergy with agents of the state. Unfortunately, brutalisation and impunity by security agents still pervade.
“There is indeed an overriding need and urgency to promote safety of journalists and fight impunity against them, in order to create the enabling environment they require to optimally perform their fundamental functions in a democracy,” it read.
The Union condemned the actions of the operatives of the Service and called for disciplinary measures against whosoever authorised the raid.
“We condemn in its totality the conduct of the DSS and call for disciplinary measures against whosoever authorised that jungle behaviour of the DSS Operatives and demand for an unqualified apology from the Federal Government for the dastardly conduct of the DSS and an assurance that such an unwholesome conduct will not repeat itself again.
“We are afraid that such brazen acts only remind us of totalitarian regimes and not genuine democracies of which the Buhari Administration prides itself of. We equally note with alarm that such lack of respect for the law is gradually pushing the country into implosion. It is however not too late to make amends.”
