By Sani Yarima
Ziti Communications has officially withdrawn its membership from the Independent Publishers Forum in Taraba State.
The CEO/Publisher, Queen Kunde, made this announcement in a statement released to SAHEL REPORTERS in Jalingo.
The decision to withdraw was due to the unethical and unprofessional conduct of certain members, particularly the Forum’s Chairman, Mr. Joseph Igba.
Queen Kunde alleged that Mr. Igba admitted members who do not publish news and instead engaged in extorting money from government institutions and MDAs using the names of legitimate members like Ziti Communications.
“My attention was drawn today over one such occurrence when a member called to complain over what he termed as been shortchanged by the chairman who he alleged collected an undisclosed sum of money purportedly given by the Taraba State governor to the publisher’s forum, only then did I discover he and some of such members who do not publish any news material have severally engaged in such act at different times.”
The statement emphasized that while it’s acceptable for the publisher’s forum to receive support from the public, such funds should come from legitimate sources such as advert placements, sponsorships, and other professional activities.
Ziti Communications (Ziti Newspaper, Ziti online News www.zitionline.com, Ziti TV) also expressed its commitment to upholding the ethics of journalism in all its publications despite the withdrawal from the forum.
Regarding the accusations against him, Mr. Joseph Igba, the state chairman of the Taraba Independent Publishers Forum, stated that they were false.
He added that the CEO/Publisher of Ziti Communications has not been a member of the association for nearly two years due to her strained relationship with other members.
Igba emphasized that the name of Ziti Communications was not included in the list recently submitted to the Taraba state government for the coverage of the one year in office of Governor Agbu Kefas.
He also challenged Ziti Communications on productivity, especially in the area of hard copy prints.
