By  Abdulwahab  Abdulah & Oamen Areguamen

LAGOS – Ahead of the forthcoming general elections, the Federal Government has been charged to guarantee the safety of journalists, especially those that will cover the poll to ensure a free and fair process.

Panellists who discussed the topic, “2011 Election: Security of Journalist, An Imperative Tool for Fair and Election,” at a lecture organised in honour of the late Mr.  Edo Ugbagwu, a murdered Judiciary Correspondent with The Nation, submitted that without a free press, there cannot be free and fair poll.

The annual lecture series put together by the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents, NAJUC, was aimed at proffering solution to the incessant assaults on journalists, especially by politicians, while carrying out their duties before, during and after election process.

According to a Lagos based journalist and human rights activist, Mr. Richard Akinnola, who was one of the speakers at the interactive programme, journalists in Nigeria were working under very harsh and insecured environment especially in the area of covering political activities.

Lagos Lawyer and rights activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu who spoke in the same vein, blamed politicians for the upsurge of insecurity which he attributed to lack of political ideologies by the politicians and the authority.