By Stephen Adeleye
The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Kogi council, has cautioned politicians in the state against dragging its members into ‘murky political waters’.
The Kogi NUJ Chairman, Adeiza Momohjimoh gave the warning at a news conference held at the council’s press Centre on Sunday in Lokoja.
”Our attention has been drawn to some reports in the media by politicians since the conduct of APC governorship primary in Kogi, trying to condemn the exercise and in a way, impugning on the integrity of journalists and our various media houses.
”They claimed no election held anywhere; that results were cooked and announcement made.
”I want to put it on record that our members (journalists) went to the field on the election day and monitored the process across the state.
”Audio, videos and pictorials evidence of the exercise were gotten from the field by journalists while monitoring the process and reports were sent to various media houses, based on their observations on the field.
”Our members were fair enough to report places where voting started early and some other places where there were delay in arrival of electoral materials.
”Having monitored and reported the process in our media outlets, journalists converged at the collation center at the state APC secretariat in Lokoja and stayed up till 3 a.m. in the morning of Saturday to also cover the collation and declaration of results.
”For any aggrieved politician to now assert that all these sacrifices by journalists amounted to colluding to declare concocted results, is not just far from the truth but showing disrespect for journalists and their media organisations.
”For us at the Kogi NUJ, we stand by the reports of journalists as published in their various media outlets on the conduct of the election,” Momohjimoh said.
He advised the politicians to use the prescribed ways of seeking redress whenever the outcome of elections were not favourable to them, rather than resorting to blackmail and attempting to pull everything down.
The Kogi NUJ boss also urged all journalists in the state to continue to uphold the ethical standards of the profession throughout the election season and beyond.
He added: ”To the aspirants who lost at the primaries, let them know that journalists are not and will never be their problems as they go in search of solution to their problems.” (NAN)
