By Rose Oranye
Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, on Friday, February 7, 2025, received the new executive members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by the re-elected chairman, Comrade Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, who paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Awka.
Addressing the union leaders, Dr Mefor congratulated them for being the true choice of the people in their respective positions, adding that the Soludo government is committed to democracy, while the media is the bastion of democracy.
According to him, “The Soludo government is committed to democracy. We were under pressure to try to interfere in the election, but we said people should be allowed to make their choices because this is democracy. The media is the bastion of democracy because, as the only agency that has the constitutional responsibility of holding government accountable to the people, its job is to defend democracy by holding government and governance accountable. You have been doing that job fairly well despite the challenges you face in the field.”
He commended Anambra journalists for the fair and improved reportage of the Soludo government’s achievements and urged them not to relent.
“We are not asking you to support Soludo’s government by way of confusing or lying to the people. Fair reportage here means saying it as it is and letting the people and posterity be the judge. I don’t expect anything less or different with the reconstituted team. If anything, we will be expecting more. This is an election year; it calls for fairness, even fairer reporting for people to get to know what Soludo has done with the mandate they freely gave him as their governor 34 months ago,” Mefor said.
The commissioner further explained that the new security initiative, Operation Udo Ga-Achị, was set up to rid the state of criminals and that Agunechemba is the new name for the Anambra Vigilante Group (AVG), adding that the group has recorded a lot of successes within this first month of operation.
He urged the media and all Ndị Anambra to cooperate with the government to reclaim the state from criminals by providing necessary information. Whenever they see something, they should say something by calling 5111.
Earlier in his remarks, the NUJ Chairman, Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, assured that the union would continue to support the commissioner and the ministry in realising his dreams and those of the Soludo administration.
