(L-R) Andy Egbon (Secretary) Comrade Festus Alenkhe (Chairman) and Imelda Elogie-Osayande (Vice Chairman) at the Congress

By Jethro Ibileke

The Edo State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Tuesday at an emergency Congress put a hold to the planned boycott of all activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the state.

The decision was reached following letters of apology and commitment written to the State Council of NUJ and the national secretariat of the Union, by the State chapter of the party.

Recall that thugs from the party invaded Lushville Hotels, the venue for collation of the governorship primary election during the party governorship primary held on February 17th, attacked some journalists and also damaged their equipment.

Thereafter, the State Council of NUJ issued a seven-day ultimatum to APC to apologize to the Council and also replace all equipment damaged, failure to which journalists will boycott all activities of the party in the state.

The ultimatum has since expired last Sunday and the Council was about to decide to boycott the party’s activities when the letters came in.

Addressing the Congress, the Council Chairman, Comrade Festus Alenkhe, noted that the decision to put the boycott on hold became necessary after the party promised to pay for all equipment on or before 16 March.

“Based on these letters of apology and commitment to replace all damaged items, Congress has therefore today resolved that the decision to boycott all activities of the APC is therefore put on hold.

“We also agreed that between now and the 16th of March 2024, the APC in Edo State has also agreed to replace all equipment belonging to the 10 journalists who were attacked. Failure to do so before this date will make us convene an emergency congress and take a decision on the matter…For now, I want to implore all journalists in Edo State to continue to cover APC activities in Edo State,” Alenkhe said.