NIGERIANS on Tuesday reacted
angrily to speculations that the
President Goodluck Jonathan
administration was planning a
major clampdown on media houses
considered to be “unfriendly”.
Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, a
constitutional lawyer; Mr. Yusuf Ali,
another SAN; Mr. Debo Adeniran, an
activist leader of the Coalition
Against Corrupt Leaders, and others
who spoke to our correspondents
said the alleged plan to clamp
down on the media was symbolic of
a government desperate to hold on
to power by all means.
Sagay said, “I won’t be too
surprised if the government clamps
down on the media because as you
can see, there is lot of desperation
coming from the government’s
side; desperation and fear of losing
the election that led to
postponement and a lot of very
undemocratic practices that have
been going on.
“But the press should just do its
work as they should under the law.
At the end of the day, there is no
army in this world that can conquer
the press. The press is the most
powerful organisation and its pen
is a great weapon. Ultimately,
nobody, no institution can conquer
the press. The press should just do
its work and be courageous.”
Sagay and the others spoke as the
speculation about government’s
plot against the media reached a
climax on Tuesday, with the
National Security Adviser, Col.
Sambo Dasuki, said to be the
anchor for the government’s plan.
A ‘news alert’ on Tuesday that
purportedly reported a discussion
at a military meeting in Kaduna,
leaked an anti-media action being
championed by the National
Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki
(retd.).
The nucleus of the plot, according
to the alert, is the arrest of top
management personnel of the
mentioned media houses: The
PUNCH, The Nation and Channels, a
privately-owned television station.
Worse than the clampdown on the
named media houses, the ‘alert’
revealed other dangerous anti-
democratic steps the government
is alleged to be taking even as the
nation gets set for the general
elections.
The alert, unedited, read, “News
Alert: Once again am back here with
some of the highlights of the
Military meeting in Kaduna. Like I
told you yesterday, the Military is
doing everything possible to derail
this democratic process. The
representative of the Federal
Government to the meeting today
made it very clear that President
Jonathan would never allow GMB to
take over from him. Rather, the
military body should be ready to
take over govt on May 29.
“As preparation for this, the
meeting came up with the plans to
clampdown on some notable
media organisations found to be
crusading for the opposition. They
specifically mentioned the
Channels TV, The Nation and The
Punch Newspapers as some of the
media houses to be dealt with. He
suggested ways to go about the
clampdown including the arrest of
notable management of these
media organisations.
“The issue of Nigerian Sovereignty
also came up in the light of an
expected attacks and
condemnation from international
communities and organisation. To
our surprise, IBB sent one Bob
Caleb to the meeting to add some
impetus. He came in around 12pm
and left about 20 minutes later
after holding some private brief
with the NSA. The meeting
continues tomorrow, but I can say
that the country will witness some
strange development in some
weeks to come. Stay tuned.”
The Presidency on Tuesday
debunked some of the contents of
the ‘alert’. For one, it denied a
report that the President would
rather hand over to the military on
May 29 than handing over to Maj.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),
the presidential candidate of the All
Progressives Congress.
Special Adviser to the President on
Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben
Abati, in an interview with The
PUNCH said the report was a sign of
desperation by some people with
partisan interest.
Abati said Jonathan remained
committed to democracy and the
rule of law.
He said, “That (the alert) is absolute
nonsense. It is nothing but a sign of
desperation on the side of certain
elements with partisan interest.
“President Jonathan remains fully
committed to democracy and the
rule of law. He is a man who
believes in one man one vote; one
woman, one vote; one youth, one
vote and the right of every Nigerian
of voting age to exercise their
franchise.
“One of the major achievements of
this administration had been the
conduct of free, fair and credible
elections at all levels since 2011
and it is a legacy of which he is
proud and he has made it clear that
his ambition does not worth the
blood of any Nigerian.
“It won’t happen under his watch
that the gains of democracy will be
reversed. He remains committed to
transforming Nigeria so that
democracy can be further
consolidated and the rule of one
man one vote will continue to be
strengthened.
“I am saying categorically that the
story is not true and cannot be true.
It should not be taken seriously by
anybody.
“What is clear is that there are a lot
of unpatriotic, partisan and
deliberate elements who are
determined to heat up the polity
for their own narrow and selfish
purposes.
“But we say to such people that
they should realise that this
country is bigger than all of us.
President Jonathan continues to
call on all stakeholders to come
together and work together to put
Nigeria first always.”
Given that most actions of the
Jonathan government, especially in
recent times, often started off as a
speculation, reactions on Tuesday
indicated that the speculations
could be true and those who spoke
warned the government against its
alleged plan.
Ali, who spoke to The PUNCH on the
phone from Ilorin, Kwara State,
described as dangerous any step to
gag the media.
He said, “That is a very dangerous
step to take. It is inimical to the
nation; it is inimical to democracy
and inimical to the rule of law.
There is freedom of expression in
our Constitution and any media
house or other organisations
whose rights are being infringed
upon should approach our courts;
the courts are open.”
Adeniran said, “It means the system
has bared its fangs and they have
decided to go all out to become
tyrannical, but that would be
resisted by the Nigerian populace
because we rely on what the
media, especially the conventional
media, can dish out to us.
“So, apparently, the present system
or government has a lot of things to
cover up; it means they have things
they don’t want the public to know,
that would be the reason they want
to do that. But I am not sure that
they would go far because the
international community is
watching and the international
community is ready to defend the
ordinary citizen of this country.
Even if they do it, they would only
embarrass themselves but we pray
that it is not true.”
The Executive Director, Civil
Liberties Organisation, Ibuchukwu
Ezike, said, “That would be
undemocratic and the Civil
Liberties Organisation will not
support such an attempt.
“Already the President has signed
the Freedom of Information Bill and
it has become a law and this bill
empowers the media to enquire
into the activities of the
government.
“Any attempt by the government to
clamp down on the media is
condemned and will be
condemned and the Civil Liberties
Organisation will resist it and lead
the Nigeria people to fight against
such impunity or lawlessness. We
pray it doesn’t happen but it would
be an opportunity for another
Occupy Nigeria.”
The Independent National Electoral
Commission on Friday announced a
shift in the elections originally
scheduled for February 14 and 28
with new dates now set at March 28
and April 11 for Presidential and
Governorship polls respectively.
The shift had drawn the anger of
many, especially the opposition,
but the crux of the matter was that
the postponement of election
started as a mere speculation, just
like the current speculation of a
plot to deal with unfriendly media
houses.
Perhaps in recognition of how
mere a speculation under the
present administration could take
on a life of reality, the INEC
chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on
Tuesday reacted to speculations
that he would soon embark on a
terminal leave, preparatory to the
expiry of his tenure of office in
June.
Jega said the condition of his
engagement was different from the
normal civil service practice and
said he would serve till the end of
his tenure on June 30.
The speculation that Jega would
proceed on terminal leave before
the commencement of the
rescheduled polls came amid
further speculations that the
Jonathan administration had lost
faith in the INEC boss and would
want the election to be handled
allegedly by a pliant INEC chairman.
Before the former Central Bank of
Nigeria governor, Sanusi Lamido,
was removed, there had been
rumours that President Goodluck
Jonathan was going to sack him for
his whistle-blowing activities
against the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation. The
Presidency had kept mum until it
finally announced the suspension
of Lamido in February 2014.
Meanwhile, anti-media actions are
not new under the Jonathan
administration.
In June 2014, armed soldiers seized
and destroyed copies of
newspapers, mainly The PUNCH,
The Guardian, The Nation,
Leadership, ThisDay, Daily Trust,
Sun, Pilot, Newswatch and The
Mirror.
The military authorities claimed
then that the seizures were based
on intelligence report that
newspapers were being used to
ferry arms into the country.
The action then drew the ire of
Nigerians with the Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project
asking Frank LA RUE, UN Special
Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom
of opinion and expression to
“urgently issue urgent appeal and
measures to stop the government
of President Goodluck Jonathan
from continuing harassment and
intimidation of several media
houses and newspapers.”
Last year, according to the World
Freedom Index, Nigeria was ranked
112 among 180 countries. The 2014
WPF index cited the negative
impact of conflicts on “freedom of
information and its protagonists.”
Nigeria was ranked 115 and 126 in
2013 and 2012 respectively.
The report linked the ranking of
some countries like Nigeria to its
government’s “tendency to
interpret national security needs in
an overly broad and abusive
manner to the detriment of the
right to inform and be informed.”
This trend, the Index noted,
constituted a growing threat
worldwide and “is even
endangering freedom of
information in countries regarded
as democracies.”
The 2014 index underscored the
negative correlation “between
freedom of information and
conflicts, both open conflicts and
undeclared ones.”
It said further that, “In an unstable
environment, the media become
strategic goals and targets for
groups or individuals whose
attempts to control news and
information violate the guarantees
enshrined in international law, in
particular, article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the 1949 Geneva
Conventions and the 1977 Protocols
Additional 1 and 2 to the Geneva
Conventions.”
WFI, however, noted that the
upsurge in violence against
journalists elicited a response from
the international community.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
