President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has congratulated the newly elected President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Eze Anaba and wished him and other newly elected officials of the guild a most fulfilling and productive tenure in office.
The President in a State House press statement titled: “As Journalism Marches On In The Service Of Nigeria”, signed Saturday by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, by its peaceful and rancor-free conduct of elections to elect its new officers, the NGE has sent a resounding message to the larger Nigerian polity that elections for desired offices could be intensely competed for without degenerating into bitterness, acrimony and needless malice.
Tinubu therefore commended those who lost out in the elections at various levels such as: Bolaji Adebiyi of ThisDay newspaper for accepting the outcome and pledging support for the winners.
“This is a light that the NGE is showing that the rest of us may find the way to a mature, tolerant, stable and sustainable democratic culture” the statement noted.
President Tinubu affirmed that it is of the utmost importance that the various unions in the newspaper industry such as the NGE, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) imbibe the ethos of internal democracy in support of professional integrity for the benefit of good governance, stability and sustainability development in Nigeria.
He attested that the NGE has, by the just concluded election, made a strong statement for the Nigerian media as a worthy exemplar, still, noted “elections are not held within the unions in our profession just for the sake of holding elections to appoint new officers of associational offices.
Rather, the larger picture is to ensure at all times that we place the profession in prime position to continually fulfill its constitutional obligation of serving as a watchdog of the people in checking the excesses of government and promoting the greatest good of the greatest number of our people”.
“The history of the Nigerian media has, since its epochal role in the struggle against colonial imperialism, been intimately intertwined with the fate of the Nigerian state and her peoples.
“The press was active in the struggle against military dictatorship in post-colonial Nigeria and this opposition to autocracy was particularly exemplified in the fierce opposition of patriotic media practitioners to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.
It is impossible to write the history of the democratic benefits we have enjoyed since the commencement of this dispensation in 1999 without emblazoning the heroic contributions of patriotic sections of the media in gold.
“But President Tinubu insists that the challenges ahead of the media in playing its role towards strengthening our democracy, keeping power continually in check as well as promoting good, responsible and accountable governance are greater than the paths traversed before.
He pledges the support of his administration in collaboration with the media towards achieving these lofty objectives in the best interest of our country.
“Once again, the President congratulates the newly elected officials of the NGE and wishes them a most successful and productive tenure in office” said the statement.
Recall that over 300 editors gathered in Owerri, the Imo State capital for its biennial National Conference, the highpoint of the gathering which was the election of new national officers.
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