Apologise for traumatising journalists, former SSG tells Umahi

TRACKING___Former Secretary to Ebonyi State Government, Prof. Bernard Odoh, has asked Governor David Umahi to apologise for traumatising journalists that work in the state, adding that there is strength in humility.

Odoh said: “We are living in time of most profound upheaval that demands leaders’ empathy and care. The governor should understand that our people deserve, at least, minimal respect and treatment with a reasonable degree of human dignity.”

He urged security agencies in the state to ensure the rights and privileges of the citizens, whom the governor swore to protect are not trampled upon, just as he pleaded with the peace-loving people of Ebonyi State to remain calm and law- abiding, even in the face of unwarranted provocations.

“Ebonyi residents deserve better from a man, who is supposed to be accountable to his people. The governor’s actions and utterances denigrate our collective sacrifices towards improving the wellbeing of our people,” he said.

Odoh, a Professor of Geology and Material Sciences, who served as SSG in Umahi’s first term, said the present challenges thrown up by the Coronavirus pandemic did not leave room for selfish aggrandisement.

Wondering where the governor derived his power to ban journalists from public facilities, the former SSG said he received Umahi’s “deplorable outbursts and chastisement of journalists in Ebonyi with deep concern and worries.”

Meanwhile, the Special Assistant to Governor Umahi on Media and Publicity, Mr. Francis Nwaze, in a statement, denied that his principal, Umahi, barred some journalists from accessing the Government House and other government facilities in the state.