“You Are On Your Own”, PDP Scolds Staff For Attacking Journalist

The Attack on The Sun journalist by an employee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been condemned  by the party, which said the action of the staff member is contrary to what the PDP represents.

Debo Ologun Agba, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP made the position of the party known on Tuesday, saying the party has commenced investigations on the issue.

The attack on the journalist, Ndubuisi Orji by Emmanuel Okoronkwo, a staff of the party took place yesterday during a press conference organized by the party, according to a statement by the Chairman of the PDP Press Corps, Samuel Ogidan.

The attack, he said, negates freedom of speech and ‘undermines the core principles of media independence” which the party stands for.

According to him, “Eyewitness accounts indicate that Okoronko attacked Orji after first physically preventing him from gaining access to the National Secretariat.

“As Orji made for his vehicle parked outside the vicinity of the secretariat, Okoronkwo pounced on him with a series of slaps heralding other forms of physical assault until private security guards attached to the secretariat rescued him.

Reacting, Ologunagba said in a statement that  Okoronkwo acted on his own, and his action does not represents what the party stands for, assuring that investigations have already commenced on the matter, adding that assaults on journalist will not be entertained.

He said journalists are allowed free access to the party’s secretariat anytime so long their works are legitimate, adding that media practitioners are major stakeholders for the party.

He said the party “regrets the incident and assures of its unalloyed respect for the Press”.

Ologunagba said, “The leadership of the PDP has received a very disturbing report that a staff of our party, Mr Emmanuel Okoronkwo, yesterday assaulted, a correspondent of the Sun Newspapers, Mr Ndubuisi Orji, locked out and forcefully prevented other journalists accredited to cover the activities of the PDP from gaining access into the premises of the national secretariat of our party to conduct their legitimate duties.

“The PDP, as a party committed to the rule of law and the democratic tenets of freedom of the press, transparency and openness strongly condemns and completely dissociates itself from such acts of violence and attack on members of the press and the institution of the media which is critical to the activities of our Party and the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.

“For clarity, whereas the PDP national secretariat is closed for secretarial activities to enable our staff to participate in the Yuletide festivities with their families, it does not preclude anybody particularly the press from having access to the secretariat to conduct their legitimate business.

“Moreover, Mr. Emmanuel Okoronkwo is not in the security department of the party and has no business whatsoever regarding the regulation of movements into the complex. He acted on his own, in violation of democratic and all-inclusive principles for which the PDP is known and outside the code of conduct guiding activities of staff at the PDP National Secretariat”, the PDP spokesman said.