Ebonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi has incurred the wrath of citizens after he oversaw the eviction of two journalists from the Government House, Abakaliki over a published report on the Lassa fever outbreak in the state, which has killed more Nigerians than Coronavirus this year.
As of April 4, 2020, Ebonyi State accounts for 8 per cent of the total 963 confirmed cases of Lassa fever nationwide, a situation report obtained by The New Diplomat from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) stated.
Whereas Ebonyi was yet to report any confirmed case of Covid-19 as of the time of this report, the state has recorded 15 Lassa fever deaths. Also, 77 Ebonyi residents have been confirmed with Lassa fever in 2020. This makes Ebonyi the third state with the highest number of cases (prevalence) in the country, after Edo and Ondo.
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The governor had during a state-wide broadcast on Wednesday reportedly declared that two journalists from Vanguard and the Sun Newspapers should stop covering all government activities in the state.
Gov. Umahi who was quoted to have banned the journalists from the Government House, for life, had said he could no longer guarantee their security and would not be able to control the people should they rise against the two reporters.
However, reacting to the development in a statement issued Thursday in Abuja, Chairman of Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Dispora (AESID), Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu, described Umahi’s decision as dictatorial.
Oluchukwu said his group has been vindicated by the latest abnormality exhibited by the governor, adding that the state government had forgotten that Journalists have a constitutional right to hold government accountable to the people.
The group said; “Governor Umahi is ruling the state like a Banana Republic where there is no rule of law, hence his desperate move to cover up several atrocities going on in Ebonyi State”.
The Ebonyi indigenous group challenged the governor to tell the world the causes of the recent wave of mysterious deaths in the state, saying the reports by the two journalists should rather be a clue to the government on how best to stop such deaths.
The group however apologised “to the two Journalists, their organisations and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) for the embarrassing act of our governor”, adding that the State needs to be rescued from the hands of its current handlers, hence the need for more investigative reporting on the activities of the state governor.
“We appeal to Journalists not to be dettered because without critical journalism in a democracy, some actors might likely act like dictators.
“As we speak, there are lot of alleged looting, unreported killings and all manner of misgovernance going on in Ebonyi State. We suspect that the Governor Umahi-led administration was no longer comfortable with these two good Journalists of Vanguard and the Sun Newspapers, hence the public embarrassment he has caused the state.
“The banning of these two Journalists is as a result of a plot to cover up some atrocities already committed. There are people this government has taken their lands forcefully for Airport project, but till now these poor farmers have nowhere to call home again.
“Pensioners have never received anything like pension since this government came in. The governor banned Okada business without providing them another means of livelihood.
“We, the indigenes of Ebonyi in diaspora are saying no to banning of Journalists in Ebonyi Government House and we call on all the Media Houses to beam their searchlight more on the misgovernance going on in our dear state. We also call on all true Civil Society groups to be up and doing for the sake of our people,” the statement said.
