LAGOS State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has frowned at the inability of aviation reporters covering the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos to perform their professional duties since Saturday, February 4 , 2012 following their ejection from the place.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Chairman, Deji Gbolahan Elumoye, Lagos NUJ wondered why the authorities at the presidential lounge where the press centre is located have denied journalists access to their office in the last 48 hours.
The union described as unwarranted the act of the security operatives who turned back accredited reporters at the presidential lounge allegedly on orders from above.
According to Lagos NUJ, “the press centre where journalists’ working tools such as laptops, recorders and cameras had been locked up should be re-opened forthwith because there is no justification for ejecting reporters from the office they have been using all along.
“This latest move by government to stifle the press will be resisted more so as the press centre has been in use by our members for over 30 years since the times of the military junta”.