JUST IN: Amnesty Coordinator Ndiomu accused of barring GbaramatuVoice from covering stakeholders meeting in Delta

The Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (Retd) has been accused of barring the GbaramatuVoice news crew from covering the stakeholders meeting held in Ogulagha kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta state which was attended by over 500 persons on Friday.

This was contained in a statement signed by the management of the newspaper company on Saturday.

The management of the paper described the action as a disdain and unwarranted, adding it depicts the inglorious military onslaught against the media in the 1990s during the darks days of military rule in Nigeria.

It was learned that the GbaramatuVoice was duly invited to cover the event by the Paramount Ruler, the Ebenanaowei of Ogulagha Kingdom before its media crew was denied by Gen. Barry Ndiomu led aides.

The statement reads in part, “Acting on the strength of the invitation by the king, GbaramatuVoice crew led by its Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Abai, arrived Obotobo community, venue of the event at about 10am, and just shortly after our arrival, the advance team of the Interim Administrator equally arrived the venue in two Toyota Coaster buses.

The statement explained, “Sighting GbaramatuVoice crew with customized jackets which was led by its Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Abia, the Media Adviser to the Interim Administrator immediately summoned one of the prominent chiefs in the kingdom and openly instructed that they would not want GbaramatuVoice to be part of the programme.

‘While insisting that the newspaper must not be found near the venue or allowed to take pictures of the proceedings, they concluded that at the end of the meeting, they will do a press statement and send to GbaramatuVoice.

“All explanations by the chief and another illustrious son of the kingdom to the effect that GbaramatiuVoice was invited by the King were flagrantly rebuffed by the media aide and some other members of the advance team.

According to the report, the GbaramatuVoice Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Abai stood his ground, insisted that the news crew would not leave the venue as they didn’t gate-crashed nor ‘invaded’ the venue but was formally invited by the King.

The news proprietor held on his ground that it was only the king that had the right to send the crew out, stating that after a protracted argument, the Presidential Amnesty team gave a conditional nod to the Newspaper’s coverage of the event.

“They gave us two conditions, first and very fundamental, they insisted that GbaramatuVoice will not live-stream the programme. Even as the information behind the move remains sketchy, GbaramatuVoice management believes that it may not be unconnected with the newspaper’s hard posture on Ndiomu’s deformed policies as it concerns Amnesty programme and related decisions stripped of human face.

“The second condition was that the newspaper will only be allowed to cover the preliminary aspect of the programme but MUST vacate the hall when the interim administrator is to give his remarks.

“While the newspaper accepted not to broadcast live, it however, again protested against the second condition. Aside from being constitutionally wrong, GbaramatuVoice maintained that such policy was draconian but against the ethos of journalism practice in Nigeria.

“Based on the intervention of some chiefs, the Newspaper’s Cameramen left the hall but unknown to the Amnesty officials, GbaramatuVoice journalists who were not on customized jackets remained in the hall and gathered 100% information that they were trying to hide.

However, GbaramatuVoice expressed sadness over the orchestrated intimidation and incivility displayed by the amnesty Coordinator and his aides at Ogulagha Kingdom on Friday.

The media outfit called on well- meaning Nigerians to ask PAP handlers the offence GbaramatuVoice had committed to be singled out or barred from covering such an event while leaving other media houses to function unhindered.

It further stressed, “What is that information that he can share freely in a gathering with over five hundred persons but feel rattled with GbaramatuVoice presence?”.