Mark told newsmen in Umuahia that there was no cause for alarm.
``Do not worry about what the house is doing. Do not worry about the senate, the National Assembly is the same,’’ he said.
In a separate interview, Chief Oluchi Ibeji, representing Umuahia/Ikwuano in the house, spoke in the same vein, saying that there was no threat to impeach the president.
Ibeji said: ``the house only reminded the president on the need to implement the 2012 budget.’’
Senator Mark was in Umuahia to open a two-day retreat for the Senate Press Corps with the theme, ``'the Role of the Media in Promoting Good Governance.’’
Declaring the event open, Mark expressed concern on the challenges facing the Nigerian media, particular the irregular payment of the salaries of journalists by some media establishmes.
He said such a trend was capable of affecting the commitment of those concerned to responsible journalism.
The Senate President said the National Assembly would collaborate with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ); the Nigerian Guild of Editors; the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to check the trend.
Mark, however, urged journalists to refrain from sensationalism and misrepresentation of facts
He said that the country required a responsible and accountable media to fast-track the process of development.
According to him, any responsible media must create agenda for agencies of government to improve the life of the citizenry.
He also charged the media to cross-check their information before publication, saying: ``if you cross-check your facts before going to press, Nigeria will be better for it.’’
Mark further urged the media to focus on issues that would promote unity, peace and progress of the country.
He said that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed by the National Assembly (NASS) to ensure the free-flow of information necessary for good governance in the country.
He, therefore, charged journalists to ensure the dissemination of accurate information, noting: `` information needed for good governance must be correct and accurate.’’
He commended the Nigeria media for being in the vanguard for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria.
He, however, enjoined the media to shun sensationalism and ``statistical contradictions’’ in their publications.
In his speech, Gov. Theodore Orji, charged the media to portray the country in positive light to the outside world by focusing on developmental issues.
He urged the media to assist political office holders with useful contributions that would help them to succeed.
``You should use your media to encourage those who are not doing well to do well. Journalists should assist leaders to overcome the challenges of governance.
``It is our collective responsibility to promote good governance,’’ Orji said.
He said that the security challenges confronting Nigeria, including the insurgency by Boko Haram, was not peculiar to Nigeria
.
Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Information, enjoined the media to propagate issues that would unite rather that divide the country.
PDP wades in
The PDP says it has set in motion the machinery to look into the grievances of members of the House of Representatives necessitating their impeachment threat on President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dr Sam Jaja, the Deputy National Chairman of the party, made this known while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.
He said that impeachment threat was synonymous with democracy across the world, adding: ``there is no threat actually as it were.
``It is the usual thing that happens in any democratic process. It is not the first time a President will be threatened with impeachment, ‘he said.
Jaja observed that the development was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that in America several presidents had been threatened with impeachment.
``What the party is doing is taking up the process because there is a process with which the party meets the people.
``This thing must be attended to diplomatically, so that wherever anybody has gone wrong will be sorted out and eventually this storm will definitely die down.’’
The deputy national chairman said that though most members of the house were in PDP, they might have their grievances, adding that it would be wrong to lord over them.
He said that the party hoped to ascertain the position of the members and that of the President on the grievances through such machinery.
``There must be an area for the two parties to meet and this thing should be resolved in the interest of democracy in this country.’’
Commenting on members of the party that were indicted by the fuel subsidy probe, Jaja said that the indicted members were “on their own.
``These are individuals, everybody bears its own cross, there are governors who are now facing prosecution as a result of their alleged actions and in actions and so it is not a party thing.’’
He, however, stressed that the indicted members remained innocent until proved guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
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