- As Law Professor faults Supreme Court on Saraki
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
NIGERIAN journalists have been called upon to always abide by the code of ethics of the profession in the discharge on their duties.
Editor, Daily Sun, Mr. Onuoha Ukeh made the call yesterday in Abuja at a roundtable on Reporting court proceedings by media: Use and abuses.
He said this just as a Professor of law, Paul Idornigie (SAN) faulted the decision of the Supreme Court in the trial of Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.
In his paper at the event organised by Law Media and Social Justice Development, titled: “Professional ethics in reporting-problems, observance and solutions”, Ukeh expressed the need for journalists to always operate by the professional ethics, so as to ensure professional integrity and credibility of journalism and the medium.
Making reference to dictionary.com, the editor defined ethics as “the rules of conduct recognised in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.”
He also said “ethics of journalism are the do’s and don’ts guiding the practice of journalism, to ensure professional integrity and credibility of journalism and medium. This entails what a journalist must do or must not do in the course of his or her job. It underlines truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, fairness and public accountability. It must be noted that, although, they have the same guiding principles, the documentation of codes and standards vary from country to country as well as organisation to organisation.
Onuoha urged media practitioners to also apply the Code of Conduct of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the discharge of their duties including upholding and defending the principles of media freedom. Journalists, he submitted, must strive to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair. He warned journalists not to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.
Ukeh further called on journalists to always protect the identity of sources who supply information in the course of gathering materials for their work. Truth, he said, is the cornerstone of journalism and, therefore, every journalist should strive diligently to ascertain the truth of every event. “A journalist should promote universal principles of human rights, democracy, justice, equity, peace and international understanding.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Idornigie has picked holes in the Supreme Court judgment on Saraki’s trial. He faulted the decision of the apex court which held that two members of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) can hear the case of alleged false declaration of assets filed against Saraki.
Prof. Idornigie, who is the head of Department of Commercial Law, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), also said it was wrong for the Director General in the Ministry of Justice to have instituted charges against Saraki when there was a sitting Solicitor General in the ministry.
He noted that the provisions of the Constitution stated that the tribunal shall be constituted by three members but did not provide for quorum.
He wondered “what would be the decision of the tribunal, when a member finds an accused guilty and the remaining one member does not so find?” “There was a sitting Solicitor General in the Ministry of Justice, but, it was a director general who instituted the charges against Saraki.
“I have issues with that. You can see that even at the Court of Appeal, there was a split decision amongst the panel of judges; these are areas that should be reported by the media so that our laws will be reformed,” he said.
He also frowned at the statement credited to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where it said “nobody comes to EFCC and come out clean. It is the desire of any justice system to, at least, be seen as fair in conducting its adjudicatory functions.
Many legal systems afford specific protection to the presumption of innocence, which is an essential feature of the right to fair hearing.
According to section 36(5) of the Nigerian Constitution, “every one charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.”