*condemns murder of PDP chieftain, lauds Police
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Friday, tasked politicians and other stakeholders to work towards free, fair, credible and peaceful elections in 2023.
Oyo NUJ gave the charge in a communique issued at the end of its monthly Congress held at its Iyaganku Press Centre in Ibadan.
In the communique signed by the Council’s Secretary, Comrade Sola Oladapo, Oyo NUJ tasked politicians to eschew violence, thuggery and hooliganism before, during and after the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The union maintained that the fresh appeal became necessary particularly in Oyo State in view of the gruesome killing of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mudasiru Baraka early on Wednesday at his family compound in Oyo town.
Commending the police in the state for arresting nine suspects in connection with the killing of the PDP Chieftain, Oyo NUJ tasked security agencies in the state to ensure diligent investigation and prosecution of those already arrested.
” The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Oyo State Council, strongly condemned the gruesome killing of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mudasiru Baraka, who was killed by gunmen early on Wednesday in Oyo town. He was said to have been shot at close range and died on the spot at his family compound in Oyo East Local Government Area”, it said.
Oyo NUJ added, ” the killers should be fished out and prosecuted, while innocent people should be set free. The security agencies should improve on the security of lives and property of residents of the state.”
” The union also appealed to all stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, political parties and all Nigerians at large to eschew violence, thuggery and hooliganism before, during and after the forthcoming 2023 general elections. All necessary measures should be emplaced to have free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.”
On the re-designing of new Naira notes, Oyo NUJ urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other commercial banks to live up to expectation and ensure the goals and objectives of the policy are not sabotaged.
The union stressed that Federal Government has a duty to improve on the quality of the new naira notes based on complaints that the rate at which the new legal tenders have been washing off is alarming, especially when water touches it.
It also enjoined the CBN to ensure availability of the new naira notes to commercial banks and that at this time, the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) should have stopped dispensing new naira notes, adding that the paucity of the new naira notes in the public has created a sort of economic hardship for Nigerians.
While urging Federal Government to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses in the country, Oyo NUJ tasked those in charge of the petroleum sector to help find lasting solution to the lingering fuel scarcity.
It then admonished travellers to be conscious of insecurity in the country, urging them to desist from reckless driving while travelling.
