UMUAHIA NORTH MAYOR THREATENS TO BAN JOURNALISTS, SAYS THEY ARE CRIMINALS

There was a drama at the premises of the Abia State High Court, Umuahia, the venue for the Mobile Court for Environmental Sanitation defaulters on Saturday May 31, 2025, following a verbal and chaotic confrontation between journalists monitoring the exercise and the Mayor of Umuahia North Local Government Area, Smart Ihuoma who said the journalists are “imbeciles”, “mad people” and “criminals.”

Trouble began after the Commissioner for Environment, Philimon Ogbonna, House Committee Chairman on Environment who is the member, representing Ohafia South State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Kalu Mba-Nwoko and SA to the Governor on Environment, Prof. Ijeoma Iheukwumere addressed the journalist, while Smart Ihuoma positioned himself to be interviewed, the journalists snubbed him, which infuriated him, forcing him to call the journalists unprintable names.

Smart further threatened to ban journalists from attending all government functions in the state, a comment which did not go down well with the journalists, and that snowballed into verbal exchange. The journalists dared him to carry out his threat, while informing him of his undoing.

The accused the Mayor of not taking care of journalists who have in different fora publicised his activities as the Mayor of the Council without appreciation, saying he has consistently failed to acknowledge that Journalists exist.

The Mayor who was visibly angry nearly went physical as he reached out to one of the journalists from Family Love FM, if not for the timely intervention of the Deputy General Manager of the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Catechist Ambrose Jonah, it would have become physical combat.

Repeatedly, the Mayor called the journalists fools, criminals, imbeciles, adding that he had marked the faces of the journalists, threatening to deal with them and reporting them to the governor.