Media, civil society condemn harassment of journalists by ex-lawmaker

The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom has condemned the harassment of staff of OrderPaper Nigeria by ex-lawmaker, Tony Nwulu.

Nwulu for over a week has mounted attacks against OrderPaper Nigeria over a story he considers unfavourable.
He has been issuing threats to the Publisher of the medium, Oke Epia.
The coalition, which OrderPaper is a member of, on Monday condemned the action of the former Member in a press statement signed by 17 of its members.

The group urged Nwulu to desist or face legal action and also described the action of the former House member “as a breach of the constitutional rights that allow journalists to do their lawful work”.
The statement reads in part: “The OrderPaper crossed paths with Hon. Tony Nwulu after publishing reports on constituency projects nominated in Honorable Nwulu’s name which he was unable to properly account for or provide explanations for the lapses.

“Mr Nwulu was on record threatening Mr Epia and his organisation to ‘take you down’ a chilling utterance that is a direct violation of the fundamental rights of Journalists to hold government officials accountable.
“Journalists are under obligation, by the powers of Section 22  and section 39 of the Nigerian constitution, to hold people in government accountable to their oath of office and their pledge to their electorates.
“The Coalition advises Honorable Nwulu to desist from further threats otherwise the coalition will be forced to pursue legal action against him.”

The media houses and Civil Society Organizations in the coalition are: Premium Times, Sahara Reporters, The Cable, Daily Trust Newspaper.
Others are Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, African Centre for Media & Information Literacy, Civic Media Lab, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, International Centre for Investigative Reporting, International Press Centre, Media Rights Agenda, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Paradigm Initiative, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and HEDA Resource Centre.

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