The Imo State Government has mocked the state chapter of the PDP for exhibiting crass ignorance by hurriedly celebrating the report of a group called the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), a body that ,in its report, showed a lack of credibility to undertake an empirical assessment of press freedom in Nigeria.

It declared yesterday that the so-called CJID, , headed by the publisher of an online news medium; Premium Times, demonstrated a lack of the pedigree and essential logistics to conduct a credible assessment of journalism practice in the country. As an online publication, Premium Times is reputated for undue sensationalism. Expectedly, the very first report of the incipient CJID is fraught with fallacies and sensational stunts. After all as the saying goes, a snake will always beget a long offspring.

A statement in Owerri yesterday by the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Hon. Declan Emelumba mocked the PDP for hurriedly flaunting the report, which purportedly ranked the state lowest in press freedom, without any cross-checking of the Centre’s false claims.

The statement condemned the hasty response to the said report by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing it of baseless propaganda based on disinformation.

Emelumba dismissed the report by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) as biased, jaundiced, unreliable, and absolutely unempirical.

He said: “This is a body that has shown zero capacity to execute evidence-driven assessments of media practice in the country. Little wonder they churned out a report that failed to adhere to the minimum standard of research, relying instead on hearsay and submissions from opposition elements to tarnish the image of Governor Hope Uzodimma’s administration.”

According to him, the flimsy parameters cited by the report, such as denial of access to information, intimidation, and harassment, are alien to the atmosphere in Imo State.

“If the report met even a modicum of empirical rigour, including interviewing the journalists on the ground, it would have discovered that Imo is one of the most friendly and safest places for the practice of journalism in Nigeria,” he submitted.

He noted that aside from the inconsistencies in the data that informed the report, at no time was any government official engaged to present the government’s side of the story, an elementary requirement in the practice and regulation of journalism.

“I can bet you that no one was sent to Imo State for any survey on the subject matter. They entirely relied on secondary information cooked up for them by the opposition in the state,” Emelumba said.

According to him, if the Centre had been circumspect and impartial, it would have found out, even from the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, that Governor Uzodimma and his officials are fully accessible and that no journalist in the state has been harassed or intimidated.

The Commissioner disclosed that Governor Uzodimma has: donated buses to both the State Council of NUJ and the Correspondents’ Chapel, as well as the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ); instituted a journalism award to encourage credible and ethical reporting, and appointed journalists to high-level positions, including the current Head of Service.

He further noted that through the instrumentation of local liaison officers and seasoned communication aides, the Uzodimma administration has established multiple access points for public information dissemination and media engagement.

He criticised the PDP for jumping to amplify a flawed report just to score a cheap political point.

“Celebrating a false report shows how gullible the PDP is. If they had done due diligence, they would have discovered the inconsistencies and one-sidedness of the report,” he said.

Interestingly, Emelumba pointed out that the same CJID had earlier published a Press Attack Tracker showing verified journalist attacks across the country, and in that index, Imo State was conspicuously absent.

“We no longer take the PDP seriously, knowing how shallow the managers of their information machinery are. It is best to ignore them,” he concluded.