BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Journalists in Ebonyi State have threatened to boycott activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state following the alleged embarrassment of members by officials of the commission.
Commotion erupted on Wednesday at the state secretariat of INEC in Abakaliki, the state capital, when journalists were shut out from covering the Commission’s scheduled press conference.
At 11:15am, correspondents from various media organizations in the state converged on the Conference hall of the INEC Office along Town Planning Way.
The journalists had come for briefing on the coming bye-election in constituencies where lawmakers’ seats were declared vacant, in line with the directive of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, at plenary, on Tuesday.
But, the State INEC Administrative Secretary, Clement Oha, summoned the journalists to his office shortly after their arrival to inform them that the scheduled briefing was not meant to be elaborate.
The Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Correspondents’ Chapel in the state, Uchenna Inya and Nabob Ogbonna, respectively expressed dismay against the action of the Commission.
Inya urged the Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, to call the Resident Electoral Commission in Ebonyi State to order, saying that journalists may, henceforth, boycott its programme in the state.
