By Cletus Opukeme, Warri
The apex Izon Media body, the Izon Publishers Forum,(IPF), Worldwide yesterday barred all media houses owned by Ijaw and Niger Deltans from addressing Niger Delta Ex-agitators as ex-militants.
This was asserted by its National Executive Council,(NEC) while its president was reading his inaugural speech on Thursday.
The media CEO emphasised, “The foreign media, without fear or favour, conspired and branded our Ex-agitators as militants, kidnappers, sea-pirates, hostage takers and oil thieves. All these were to criminalize the struggle and weaken its prospects.
“There are agitators in Yoruba, Housa and Igbo nations but non of such groups were tagged militant. We are agitators contrary to the ugly and unprintable names the Ijaws were been branded by the foreign media. The criminalization of our struggle by foreign media reduced support from the international community for our freedom.
“These unethical and inimical colorations further created room for the genocidal attacks and massacre in Ijaw land. This is the reason we have not made great positive impacts in our struggle for justice and total freedom as Ijaws and the Niger Delta people.” Therefore, we hereby barred all our reporters and media houses from describing our Ex-agitators as militants”.-IPF maintained.
