The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) on Saturday in Minna congratulated the newly-elected President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr Femi Adesina.
In a statement issued by the forum’s Chairman, Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger, it urged him to uphold the spirit of professionalism and political non-partisanship for which the body is known.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adesina, the Deputy Managing Director of Sun Newspapers Ltd, was elected on Friday in Ibadan for a tenure of two years.
He had polled 147 votes to defeat his lone challenger, Malam Tukur AbdulRahman of the New Nigerian Newspapers, who?polled 57.
In the statement, Aliyu called on Adesina to ensure that his emergence as president was for the benefit of not only the media but also the Nigerian public.
“At this time of the nation’s political development, what Nigeria needs is a guild that transcends political partisanship and plays the traditional role of mediating between the leaders and the led.
“I have a strong belief that your colleagues must have seen these qualities and others in you to have elected you into this highly exalted office.
“It is a thing of joy that your colleagues put aside ethnicity or tribalism in choosing you to pilot the affairs of the guild.
“I therefore call on you to provide the body with a leadership devoid of tribal, political or any primordial sentiment,” the statement said.
It went further to state that the forum reiterated its strong belief in the assertion that nothing sustains a nation’s democracy than the kind of vibrant media Nigeria presently has.
?The statement urged the new NGE president to work very hard to sustain this tradition.
“The forum prayed that God will grant Adesina and other editors who were elected the ability to take the guild to lofty heights,’’ it added.(NAN)