Why ThisDay, Vanguard correspondents were banned – Imo govt.
Everything seems to be falling into place now. The Imo state goverment has issued a press release on why the correspondents from Vanguard and ThisDay newspapers were banned from covering activities at the Government House.
We have read reports in the media especially the print and social media claiming that the governor of Imo State Owelle Rochas Okorocha had banned the Thisday and Vanguard Newspapers from Government House. This is not true.
The governor did not ban Thisday and Vanguard Newspapers as institutions, but told the “Correspondents” of the two newspapers, Chief Chidi Nkwopara and Mr. Amby Uneze to stop covering his activities. And reason being that, Chief Nkwopara, an Owerri Nchise Indigene and a title holder in the area, has become Owerri“Nchise/PDP Correspondent” right from the day the governor indicated his interest or desire to relocate Ekeukwu Market to a more convenient location, and had declared media war against the governor and his administration, throwing caution to the wind.
For Mr. Amby Uneze, supposedly, the Thisday Newspaper Correspondent has also become, on our side, more of “Mbaise/PDP Correspondent” than being Thisday Correspondent. He is from Oke-block in Aboh Mbaise LGA where the 2015 PDP governorship candidate comes from and he saw that project as his own. He even worked as an electoral officer in Ngor Okpala in the 2015 election for that reason. So, having his dream of an Mbaise governor dashed in 2015, he therefore sees Governor Okorocha as his number one“Enemy” and he does not hide it, using the newspaper as tool.
When they attend the governor’s periodic interactions with media practitioners they would only be looking for what would arm them for negative stories. They do not mean well for the governor or his administration, and they have become willing tools in the hand of the PDP in the state. When you tell Mr. Uneze that you would report him to his employers, the issue of non-payment of salary would arise.
It is also not surprising to us that in less than twenty-four hours after the governor had told them, before other Correspondents, publishers of Owerri based newspapers and NUJ officials to stop covering his activities, the PDP in the state had a Press Conference backing them and condemning the governor even when the NUJ Chairman had appealed to the governor to rescind the restriction….