The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned the recent behaviour of Minister of Works, David Umahi, who abruptly walked out on journalists during a scheduled press briefing at his office in Abuja.
Journalists had been invited to the press conference at the Mabushi office of the minister and had waited for nearly an hour for Minister Umahi to address them.
The event was scheduled for 2 pm, but the minister did not arrive until 2:50 pm. After reciting the national anthem and pledge, Umahi declared, “There is no press here. The press conference is not held again. When the press is ready.”
He then exited the room, accompanied by the permanent secretary and other directors, without providing any explanation or offering an apology to the over 40 journalists present.
The NUJ expressed its strong disapproval of the minister’s actions, emphasizing the importance of respect and cooperation between public officials and the media.
The minister was earlier criticised by Nigerians for his exchange with Laila Johnson-Salami, an Arise News correspondent, during a stakeholder meeting on compensation for the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project in Lagos.
During the briefing, Johnson-Salami asked if the project had gone through an EIA as required by law, but the minister in an apparent move to ridicule the journalist stated that she was speaking ‘fone’ a slang for phonetics, stressing that he could not understand what she was saying.
As governor, Umahi had several clashes with various journalists when he held sway as chief executive of Ebonyi state.
