NUJ blasts Nigerian Army

The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja has said the invasion of Daily Trust office by armed soldiers is an reprehensible act that is inimical to the nation’s democracy.

The chairman of the union, Emmanuel Ogbeche, said this on Monday when he led the leadership of the union on a solidarity visit to the head office of Daily Trust in Abuja.

He said with the general elections fast approaching, if media organisations become targets of military invasion, it means non-state actors can leverage on the fear created, thereby making journalists easy preys.

“It is a troubling development. But we encourage Daily Trust and the media in general not to be deterred in the face of what has happened. What the military simply did was to give credence to stories (on insurgency) Daily Trust ran over the week.

“We hope the military will learn from this and engage more constructively with the media because there are better ways they could have approach this grouse,” he said.