Uduaghan raises alarm over frequent falsehood by blackmailers

The immediate past governor of Delta state, Dr. Emmanuel Ewete Uduaghan, has raised concern over what he called the frequent falsehood by blackmailers through the social media, saying that it might lead to security challenges if not checked.

Dr. Uduaghan, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Asaba at the opening ceremony of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta state council press week, stated that the state government should not sit back and allow blackmailers to have their way in the state as their activities in the recent times portend destruction and evil to the society.

Speaking on the topic ‘Good Governance, Journalists, Social Media,’ the former governor said good governance can be achieved through social media if properly checked, adding that activities of the social media in the recent times by blackmailers, portend evil and had done more damage than good in the society.

Dr. Uduaghan said that through the social media has made possible for the leaders in any given society to be accountable to the people, adding that the leaders can only utilize social media effectively if activities of the users, particularly those who claimed to fight “a just cause” to are not checked.

His words: “Blackmailing is a big profession here in Delta, the people involved eat with it, feed with it, and work with it, leaders have to be careful about social media if good governance can be achieved, it is unprofessional to see anybody with access to Ipad or phone using it through social media to blackmail people in power, we need to check their activities.”

Recalling that he was questioned for having left N700 billion debt in the state during his handover note to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Dr. Uduaghan regretted that social media stands for the good, ugly and bad, saying that the bad seems to have overtaken the good in the recent times “Once a message is sent into social media, especially wrong messages, it is very difficult to retrieve, it was reported in social media that I left N700 billion debt for Okowa in handover rote, which was never true” the former governor added.

In his lecture, the guest speaker, one time governor of Edo state, Prof. Oserheime Osunbor, said good governance does not rest alone on the journalists rather a collective responsibility of the people and the governed.

He said that many who own smart phones at present operate outside the shores of professional journalists through social media but are not members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

According to him, good governance can be achieved through collective responsibility of the journalists who are properly trained in the rudiments of the job and not those who believe in anything goes.

In his remarks, the chairman of the Delta State Council of the NUJ, Comrade Nobert Chiazor, expressed thanks to the state government who had made it possible for the state council to have a secretariat of its own after many years of operating on a rented apartment.

“Under my leadership, over 40 journalists were trained and sponsored by the state government when Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan was governor of the state” he added.

Also speaking, the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa who was represented by his Deputy Bar. Kingsley Otuaro, lamented that social media which supposed to hold public office holds accountable to the people, is currently invaded by jobless miscreants who have nothing doing rather spurious and unfounded allegations by publishing rumour thereby violating the rules of not cross checking facts before publishing.

He said: “Everyone with a phone, Ipad is now a journalist” and urged the NUJ to check activities of these fake journalists who operate social media.