The City Mayor of Maroua, Sali Babani has put himself in the news after threatening lives of journalists in the area. He was reacting to a publication on a Facebook page of a local journalist, Ousman Boubakari Sali.
The mayor was angered by some critical comments the journalist made in his story concerning what he referred to as an abandoned road project in the Far North Regional capital Maroua. The writer had captioned the story “Maroua - voirie urbaine Boulevard de kakataré: Chantier abandonè”.
The Cameroon journalist trade union has condemned the mayor’s intimidations and death threats.
In a press release the CJTU president Marion Obam said the mayor made the threats in the presence of witnesses including journalist Aminou Alioum correspondent of Canal 2 international who the mayor called a beggar “You journalist, You attack me, I’m going to kill you”. The mayor reportedly threatened.
The press is taking the mayor’s violent comment seriously, especially at a time they are still coping with the violent killing of their colleagues including Martinez Zogo. To this, the CJTU leader says the trade union cannot remain indifferent to this death threat, coupled with irrelevant injunctions and other forms of black mail against media men and women.
The Mayor has also gone on record for making degrading statements against journalists, claiming that he has taken care of some of them suffering from AIDS, and as such the press should not be critical of him.
Faced with the seriousness of the allegations, the CJTU in its communiqué “holds the city mayor of Maroua now accountable for the safely of CJTU members in particular and all journalists in the far north region in general.”
The Journalists' Trade Union remarks that under such conditions the local press finds itself difficult to work. It will take a legal action if this type of threat occurs again, the union states. Meanwhile coming barely a month before the celebration of the 30th World Press Freedom Day, CJTU calls on the national and international opinions to bear witness to this threat on the freedom of expression.
Sa'ah Siona Ikei, The Post Newspaper
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