By Christiana Ekpa
In view of the proliferation of fake journalists at the National Assembly Abuja , the Nigerian Police in conjunction with the House of Representatives Press Corps have apprehended three persons impersonating themselves as journalists. .
The 3 impersonators were arrested shortly after the budget defence by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Downstream which was held at the conference room 028.
Trouble started after an interview session with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timpre Sylva when the hoodlums posing as journalists accosted the minister demanding for some gratification to the amazement of accredited journalists covering the House who tried to stop them.
These dare devil hoodlums, however, vented their anger on the accredited journalists and threatened to beat them up, a situation that compelled the members of the Press Corps to call for help from the police and the Sergeant at Arms at the National Assembly who swung immediately into action and arrested the suspects through the directive of DPO , Umar Abdullahi Sambo ( SP).
The three suspects Balarabe, Ibrahim and Joseph were later taken to the National Assembly Police Station where they were interrogated and detained for further investigation.
Recall that, Nigeria Union of Journalists FCT Council had recently declared war on fake journalists asking them to relocate from the nation’s capital as there is no more hiding place for them.
In line with this, the NUJ inaugurated a nine man committee to tackle the menace of these hoodlums who have continuously brought the image of the journalism profession into disrepute.
