L-R: Enugu State CP, Bitrus Giwa (6th) and Enugu NUJ Chairman Obinna Ogbuka (7th), and other officials of NUJ and the State Police Command during the courtesy visit
By Tony Adibe
The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Mamman Bitrus Giwa, has tasked journalists and media practitioners to always verify their sources of information to avoid publishing or broadcasting falsehood to the public. He also cautioned media practitioners against releasing to the public unsubstantiated and unverified stories, as such “is capable of setting the society on fire and creating a false sense of insecurity.”
The Commissioner equally pleaded with the leadership of NUJ to ensure proper sanitization of the profession by going after quack journalists in their midst in order to restore public confidence and trust in the profession. “You can emulate the NBA that has been going after fake lawyers”, Giwa said.
Giwa made the appeal on Thursday when the newly elected executive officers of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Enugu State Council led by the Chairman, Comrade Obinna Ogbuka, paid a courtesy visit on the Commissioner to inform him on their emergence and to seek cooperation between the press and the police in the fight against crimes and other social vices the state.
Giwa, who spoke specifically on Enugu State, explained that Governor Peter Mbah “is doing well in terms of provision of infrastructure, creating enabling environment for businesses to thrive as well as improving the security of lives and property” by taking proactive security measures such as the establishment of the Command and Control Centre (CCC), that makes it easier to track criminals.
He emphasised that the governor’s efforts should not be jeopardized through false reportage by the media.
The Commissioner gave an example of a recent incident in which it was reported – and the report went viral – that a certain girl was killed in an hotel in the state and her body parts dismembered, an indication that her death was a ritual killing but when investigation was conducted, the corpse of the lady in question was intact and the reporter of such story had to beg for pardon when he was arrested.
Giwa, who was reacting to the address of the NUJ chairman, Ogbuka, that the Union was making plans to “weed out fake journalists spreading false information,” said that he was about to comment on fake and unsubstantiated reportage before the chairman pointed it out.
“I was having it at the back of my mind on the issue of fake news, but since you are already doing something about it, I’ll lend my support. People dish out stories without finding out its actual source,” he reiterated.
He advised that NUJ should caution their members to guard against fake news and to check fake journalists among them, as the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), is doing to fish out fake lawyers.
“You have to caution yourselves to do the right thing. You should not magnify things more than they actually are. You can do what the lawyers are doing to check fake lawyers. Whatever you think we can do to help, I’ll be there to enforce it to turn the society to a better society,” he assured.
He urged journalists to investigate news thoroughly to know the source, “so that you report accurately,” he advised, and promised to collaborate with NUJ to sanitize the media and the society.
Earlier in his brief remarks, the NUJ chairman, Obinna Ogbuka, told the CP that they have put plans in motion to have a database of practicing journalists, which is the way they can check infiltrators into the journalism profession.
He stressed that whenever they find any person who “is masquerading as a journalist whereas he is not,” they will hand such a person to the security agencies for prosecution.
Ogbuka bemoaned the fact that some people indulged in false alarms in the name of practicing journalism, stressing that the NUJ was out to stop them. He sought the assistance of the police to that regard. “NUJ will work closely with you and will assist the police in any way we can,” he said.
