Lagos NUJ gives EFCC 72 hours to apologise to The Sun

The Lagos state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) a 72-hour ultimatum to apologise to The Sun Publishing Limited or face a lawsuit.

Armed EFCC operatives invaded the head office of the company on Monday.

The agency had accused the newspaper of publishing pro-Biafra and Boko Haram stories.

But The Sun described the raid as a witch hunt, saying Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the commission, was irked by a report which traced his wife to a property in Abuja.

Deji Elumoye, chairman of the Lagos NUJ, described the sealing off of the newspaper house as “barbaric”.

He said EFCC had infringed on the fundamental human rights of workers of the newspaper whose movement in and out of the office was curtailed by security operatives for about an hour.

“This is a great violation of the freedom of movement and association of the affected Nigerian citizens as entrenched in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended,” he said in a statement.

“The council, therefore, gives EFCC a 72-hour ultimatum to publicly apologise to The Sun management and the affected staff for the unwarranted siege, failure which we will not hesitate to ask our team of lawyers to seek redress in court.”