Responsible Reporting Can Prevent Crises, CP Zungura Tells Osun Journalists

The Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, CP Ibrahim D. Zungura, has charged journalists to embrace responsible reporting, saying accurate and balanced information can prevent crises while falsehood can destroy.

Zungura spoke on Thursday, 15th October 2026, when the Osun NUJ Online Media Chapel paid him a courtesy visit at the State Command Headquarters in Osogbo.

He said information has the power to build or destroy, urging the Chapel to be a force for truth, balance and national unity in the online space.

“There is information that can make and information that can destroy,” the CP said, charging the Chapel to step up efforts to inform adequately and accurately.

The Chapel Chairman, Mr. Isa Isawade, said the online media space had operated without sufficient professional structure, allowing quacks to spread falsehood, extort and blackmail unsuspecting members of the public.

He noted that easy access to smartphones and social media had made it possible for anybody to publish without verification, giving rise to misinformation, fake news and one-sided reports.

Isawade also warned that Artificial Intelligence now makes it possible to create manipulated audio and video materials capable of making people appear to say or do things they never said or did.

He explained that the NUJ Online Media Chapel was established to provide structure for online journalism, register correspondents and publishers, promote verification and offer a recognised channel for institutions to engage legitimate journalists.

The CP identified political thuggery, motor park disputes and cultism as the major security challenges he inherited on assumption of office.

He revealed that his first day in office coincided with the killings in Ikire, adding that he moved immediately to quell the violence and arrest perpetrators.

Zungura warned that no individual, regardless of political position or public office, was above the law, saying local government chairmen would be arrested if violence ensued over motor park control.

He also directed Divisional Police Officers to identify cultism flashpoints and make arrests, noting that many suspects were now in custody and relative peace had returned.

The Chapel urged the CP to address police extortionists who extort motorists on the outskirts of the city and intercity routes.