The All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday condemned the siege on newspapers across the country by security agencies, warning that the Goodluck Jonathan administration, by tampering with press freedom, had taken on a battle it could not win.
This is just as security agents continued its clamp down on newspapers’ distribution yesterday in Minna, Niger State.
Meanwhile, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has faulted the confiscation of newspapers in some parts of the country meant for circulation on the highway by soldiers, saying it was a threat to duty of the media to inform.
Meanwhile, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has faulted the confiscation of newspapers in some parts of the country meant for circulation on the highway by soldiers, saying it was a threat to duty of the media to inform.
Nigerians condemn action
While Nigerians continue to condemn the attack on the media and confiscation of newspaper, some soldiers numbering up to 10, stormed the distribution centre of national dailies in Minna, Niger State, and prevented the distribution and sale of some national dailies.
While Nigerians continue to condemn the attack on the media and confiscation of newspaper, some soldiers numbering up to 10, stormed the distribution centre of national dailies in Minna, Niger State, and prevented the distribution and sale of some national dailies.
The soldiers were said to have arrived the distribution centre as early as 7a.m., fully armed in a military pickup van
They carried out a search of all newspapers on arrival and only allowed the papers to be circulated to out stations after being certified they were not those labelled to be “contraband.”
They carried out a search of all newspapers on arrival and only allowed the papers to be circulated to out stations after being certified they were not those labelled to be “contraband.”
Those allowed to be on stand included Vanguard, Tribune, Sun, Union, ThisDay, Guardian and Sunday NewsWatch. The newspapers that were not allowed to be circulated were the Nation, Leadership and Daily Trust. The soldiers left the distribution centre at about 2p.m.
Agbakoba speaks
Agbakoba in condemning the actions of the soldiers, said: “It is a major breach to the rights to free of speech and to impact information. There is no reason why this should happen in our society. It is a major travesty of justice and a major interference in the duty of the media to do their job without fear and molestation.
Agbakoba in condemning the actions of the soldiers, said: “It is a major breach to the rights to free of speech and to impact information. There is no reason why this should happen in our society. It is a major travesty of justice and a major interference in the duty of the media to do their job without fear and molestation.
“I only hope that who ever gave the order has a very good excuse, but there can really be no excuse for such an impunity. It is intolerable for the military to behave the way they did. It is not acceptable in a civilised society, its not acceptable in a democracy or civil society. Let us hope they have a good reason, but like I have repeated, there can be no excuse for the brazen act of impunity carried out by the soldiers. We are waiting to hear what they will say.”
APC in a statement in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the President failed to learn the lessons of history that the Nigerian media could neither be intimidated nor suppressed by anyone, and that all those who tried to do so in the past lived to regret their actions.
It wondered why a government that is being asked to diligently prosecute the war on terror was instead, vehemently waging a war on the media and using the security agencies to interfere with the country’s democracy.
‘’Had the government pursued the insurgents who are killing and maiming Nigerians with the same vigour with which it had descended on the media, the war against terror would have been long over,’’ APC said, wondering what kind of weapons that the small newspaper distribution vans could be used to ferry that cannot be conveyed by other, bigger vehicles that move around the country undisturbed.
APC slams action
The party described as disingenuous and ridiculous the explanation that an intelligence alert was responsible for the shameful and unacceptable clampdown on the media, and the platitude that the Jonathan Administration holds the media in high esteem.
The party described as disingenuous and ridiculous the explanation that an intelligence alert was responsible for the shameful and unacceptable clampdown on the media, and the platitude that the Jonathan Administration holds the media in high esteem.
‘’Even if one believes the Administration’s babble that President Jonathan holds the media in high esteem, how can that be justified by the indignities being meted out to the media under his watch? How does the so-called intelligence report justify the arrest of media workers, detention of distribution vans and the impounding of newspapers? How does it justify the restriction of newspaper circulation? How does it justify an administration’s efforts to tamper with fundamental rights guaranteed by the nation’s constitution?
Attempt to stifle freedom of speech
‘’With the clampdown on the media, the Jonathan administration has opened a new but dangerous flank in its war against Nigerians. First. It was an attempt to stifle the freedom of assembly and the freedom of speech when a Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, tried but failed to ban peaceful protests in Abuja. The outcry against the obviously-orchestrated ban on peaceful protests had barely died down when the government moved to stifle press freedom. But it is a lost battle,’’ APC said.
‘’With the clampdown on the media, the Jonathan administration has opened a new but dangerous flank in its war against Nigerians. First. It was an attempt to stifle the freedom of assembly and the freedom of speech when a Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, tried but failed to ban peaceful protests in Abuja. The outcry against the obviously-orchestrated ban on peaceful protests had barely died down when the government moved to stifle press freedom. But it is a lost battle,’’ APC said.
The party said a government that had failed to provide security for its citizens, 12,000 of whom had died in the hands of Boko Haram since 2009, and a government that has pauperised its citizens rather than empower them, was suddenly acting like someone pumped with steroids and wasting its artificial energy on tackling the media, simply because it did not like its fierce independence and highly professional disposition.
‘’President Jonathan gave a hint of what’s to come when he blamed the media for over-reporting Boko Haram, forgetting that the media is only a mirror of the society. Our advice to the President is to immediately call a halt to the war on the media which his administration has launched because it is one battle he cannot and will not win,’’ it said.
Source: Vanguard
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