Sequel to the press conference granted by one Ethelbert Nnanna,former Lawmaker for Oguta State Assembly on behalf of his group known as Greater Imo Initiative (GII) which claimed that some journalists in the state were attacked and molested at the Imo NUJ Secretariat along Port Harcourt Road recently, the Comrade Precious Nwadike led Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Imo State Council, has petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Imo state Command with a view to clarifying issues and calling Nnanna to order.
Imo NUJ, in the petition written by Barr N.O. Chukwuezi and dated September, 8, 2025, said, “Comrade Precious Nwadike is the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee overseeing the affairs of NUJ, Imo State Council pending the resolution of the leadership dispute in the organization which is now pending in court. Steve Uzoechi was the former Chairman of the same Caretaker Committee while Lambert Ojukwu is one of the aspirants to the Chairmanship position in Imo NUJ.
“Our instruction is to the effect that:
“1) Recently, one Hon. Ethelbert Nnanna who parades himself as the Co-ordinator of a faceless organization known as “Greater Imo Initiative” addressed a Press Conference in which he launched a bitter diatribe against two prominent sons of Imo State.
“2) In the course of his unfortunate fulmination, like a faulty locomotive, the said Hon. Nnanna derailed to attack the existence of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ (NUJ’s) Secretariat Complex along Port Harcourt Road, Owerri by raising a false alarm that the NUJ Secretariat (also known as NUJ Press Centre) “has now been illegally converted into a den of hemp smokers, criminals and rapists….” He also made the bogus claim that journalists were attacked thereon recently resulting in the spilling of blood etc. and called on the authorities to take over the Complex.
“3) These unguarded statements by Hon. Ethelbert Nnanna with respect to Imo NUJ Secretariat are geared towards creating tension and disenchantment where none exists. It is the product of a heart filled with an invidious disposition to see to it that the NUJ Press Centre which has served as a rallying point for Imo journalists for decades is taken away from them”.
“It needs to be recalled that the leadership of Imo NUJ is still the subject matter of Suit No. NICN/OW/01/2019 – Lambert Ojukwu & Ors v. Nigeria Union of Journalists & 8 Ors still pending at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Owerri Judicial Division in which the Court had restrained one of the Defendants therein, Mr. Christopher Akaraonye, from parading himself as the Chairman of the Union and stopping from conducting any election pending the determination of the Suit. It is quite obvious that it is this disappointed and frustrated group that is sponsoring the attack on the Press Centre”.
