Bayelsa Correspondents pass vote of No Confidence on Gov Diri’s CPS
…As members boycott govt House Press Releases
Isaac Ombe -Yenagoa
Concerned by the shabby and nonchalant attitude towards members of the Federated Correspondents Chapel (FCC) of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bayelsa State chapter, since he came on board as the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, members have passed vote of no confidence in Daniel Alabrah.
The decision to pass vote of no confidence in Alabrah was reached at the chapel’s monthly congress meeting held, in Yenagoa, on Thursday afternoon, as members also boycotts press releases from government .
Members also threatened to boycott government activities if the Chief Press Secretary continued with the attitude they considered as ‘hostile’.
In the resolution reached at the Congress meeting , members stated that the Chief Press Secretary’s determination to continuously deny Correspondents access to state government programmes and Government House and, instead, chose to be feeding Correspondents with press releases which hamper their constitutional responsibilities as Journalists will no longer be tolerated.
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“Chapel observed that the Press Secretary has been treating the Chapel with utmost disrespect and disdain as shown by his attitude towards the Chapel hence the vote of no confidence in Mr. Daniel Alabrah as Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.
Citing the manner correspondents were handled during the recent visit of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the state, the FCC stated thus : “the Press Secretary, in his usual manner, left out national Correspondents in the arrangement to visit Angiama, Southern Ijaw Local Government for the coverage of the ground breaking ceremony of the bridge.
“Since the inauguration of the Senator Douye Diri Prosperity Government on February 14, 2020, Correspondents have been treated to press releases with no possibility of attending government programmes to get first hand information.
“Within the past two years, some Correspondents have also been roundly criticized and reported to their head offices for writing the press releases their own way. We have also done our best to engage government on the need to ensure we cover government programmes to get first hand information to no avail.
“It is against this backdrop that the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel notes the following reasons why we are, HENCEFORTH, saying no to government press releases until government sees reason with us as the Fourth Estate of the Realm with a constitutional duty to report first hand, the activities of government.
“We don’t want to believe that the Governor, Senator Douye Diri is responsible for the shabby and poor attitude of the Press Secretary as we call on the governor to rejig, reposition and rejuvenate his media team.
“The congress condemned the attitude of the Press Secretary, who will not allow Correspondents acess to government programmes but rather chose to send press releases after such programmes.
