The Nigeria Police and other security agencies in the country have been urged to borrow a leaf from saner climes by desisting from harassing and brutalising journalists in the course of carrying out their lawful duties.
Secretary of 2019 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council, Mr. Uyi Osaretin, made the appeal in an exclusive interview with Info Daily, Thursday, shortly after a procession/walk against violent crime in Benin City and Nigeria at large.
The procession/walk tagged: ‘walk against violent crime’, was part of activities to mark the 2019 Press Week in the Council with the general theme: ‘Nigeria’s Economic & Security Challenges: The Way Out.’
Uyi said journalists decided to take a walk against police brutality against journalists, kidnapping, thuggery, cultism and violent crime in our society, which according to him have been rampant.
“So, any act of violent against members of the society, journalists, we walk against it and we took the walk to the Ministry of Communication and Orientation“, he added.
Speaking further on police and other security agencies brutality against journalists, suggested that the policing in the country should be more of civil and more friendly as they (police) proffess.
He said, “They should try as much as possible not to be violent against the persons they profess to protect partucularly journalist. Let them not brutalised journalists just because they are acting the script of whosoever they are walking for.”
Uyi recommended the government passed a bill that protect journalists and other members of the society against brutality.
“We even want a situation the government of the day will do a bill that will tend to protect journalists against brutality. If that, which of course the campaigns have been on, we just decided to re-echo it by taking a walk”, he said.
Earlier, Chairman of the Council, Sir Roland Osakue, while leading members of the Union in the walk, said it was a signal to outsider that journalists in the state are against all sorts of violence in the state and Nigeria at large.
He noted that cultism, kidnapping, land speculation, armed robbery, thuggery are alien to our society and journalists are against such.
