Oluwatosin Enesi
The minister was reported to have abruptly exited the conference room where the correspondents who had waited for over 50 minutes were gathered, asserting that the press was nonexistent.
Upon his arrival at 2:50 p.m. and after reciting the national anthem and pledge, Umahi said, “There is no press here. The press conference is not held again when the press is ready.
“The permanent secretary and other directors should follow me to my office. The press is non existent,”
However, reacting to the reports, the minister’s Special Adviser (Media), Orji U. Orji, in a statement on Tuesday, described the reports as a misrepresentation of facts, saying that the shift of the press briefing was due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
The statement partly read, “It is to be noted that the decision of the management of the Ministry to reschedule the press briefing to a more convenient date was in good faith and was communicated to the audience of all present. My office took further steps to apologise and appeal to the revered journalists who agreed with me that the inconveniences caused by shifting the press briefing to another day were not deliberate.
“I must commend very highly the teeming members of the fourth estate of the realm who understood the explanations made by me on the exigencies that caused the deferral of the press briefing by the management of the Federal Ministry of Works. I must also invite to the altar of development journalism, the insignificant few who decided to go sensational by choosing unrelated captions to attract the interest of readers, just to smear the reputation of some of our celebrated leaders.”
Umahi noted that the ministry has an “unwavering” relationship with journalists “as we see each other as partners in the development of our dear nation.”
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