The Chairman, Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Adeiza Momoh Jimoh, has urged journalists in the state to guard against being used by politicians to run down Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration.

The council admonished reporters in and outside the state, to let media ethics to take the centre stage in their professional practice. He said falsifying reports was criminal and that Bello had performed very well.

The council made the call at the 2022 NUJ Press Week in Lokoja, when it further emphasised the importance of truth in journalism practice.

While saying that it was unprofessional to report a story from only one perspective, the chairman described false media reports as “criminal and very ungodly”.

According to him: “I urge our colleagues not to allow themselves to be used by unscrupulous politicians, who may be out to run down the Government of Kogi State for whatever reasons. The governor has done very well. We celebrate him.”

At the ceremony, the Union recognised the efforts made by Bello’s administration especially in the health and education sectors, and bestowed an award of exemplary performance on the governor.

Discussing how the Governor earned the award, the chairman said: “We did not just decide to celebrate Yahaya Bello. Some steps led to it. As a team, we embarked on a tour of public projects in education and health; we visited state-owned universities. We visited CUSTECH and the GYB Model Schools, and the members of the union were very impressed with infrastructural development.

“The next day, we visited Kogi State Specialist Hospital and we saw the impact the government has made in infrastructure. We saw the remodeling of the hospital, the administrative block and other units put in place by the Yahaya Bello administration.”

Further justifying the decision of the NUJ to bestow the award on the Governor, the NUJ Chairman explained, “What fascinates the NUJ executives and its members is the state of the art reference hospital in Okene and the General Hospital in Gegu – projects initiated by the GYB administration in its second term.”

“The only way to register the commendation of journalists in the state is to publicly bestow an award on him for infrastructure revolution in health and education sectors in Kogi State,” he said.