Dimeus stated this on Sunday in his sermon during the special church service at Bishara Baptist Church, Bauchi, to mark the commencement of the 2021 Press Week of Bauchi State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The CAN chairman said there was the need for journalists, through accurate, fair, unbiased and factual reportage, features, commentaries, opinions and editorial to mount pressure on the government to unveil faces of those who had over the years endangered lives of people.
He noted that since it is in the public domain that the sponsors and financiers are known, which the government has not denied, their names should be made public for Nigerians to know those behind their sufferings in the hands of insurgents and bandits.
“Since it is in every public domain that the sponsors and financiers are known, a development government has not denied, then, the names should be made official and public so that Nigerians will know the faces of those who have endangered our lives over the years,” the CAN chairman said.
“Many innocent lives have been lost, valuable properties have been lost, we need to know those behind all this callousness and wanton destruction of lives and properties,” the CAN chairman said.
According to Dimeus, the government had to do everything with a view to ending banditry, insurgency and every form of criminality, declaring that Nigerians wanted peace.
“There must be concerted efforts to end banditry, kidnapping, killing and other forms of criminality that have become the order of the day. We are tired of all these atrocities. We need peace, we need tranquility, we need to sleep with all our eyes closed,” he declared.
Taking his text from the Book of Jeremiah 5:1-2, the CAN chairman advised journalists to be, “fearless, courageous, objective, fair and more importantly professional and ethical in the line of your duties. Tell it the way it is. Don’t relent, don’t mince words because the society is eagerly waiting to hear it from you.”
In his remarks, NUJ Council chairman, Comrade Umar Sa’idu, submitted that Nigeria needed divine intervention to be able to overcome the myriad of security challenges facing it.
According to Sa’idu, who was represented at the church service by a senior member of the Union, Deacon Ishola Michael, “the situation is so bad that only God can make things better.”
The chairman informed that the theme of the 2021 Press Week was, “Insecurity, Economy issues in Nigeria: Role of the Media”, adding that it was aimed at highlighting the key roles the media had to play in order to get the country out of the logjam it found itself.
He added that the focus of the Press Week was to promote unity, oneness and togetherness by journalists in the state.
