The Nigerian military which has come under severe
criticisms locally and international for failing to contain the Boko
Haram
insurgency in northern Nigeria, has embarked on what seems like a
general clampdown on independent media on Friday as at least, three
national newspapers reported that their editions for the day have been
confiscated by soldiers in different parts of the country.
Lagos
based The Nation Newspapers reported that several vehicles conveying
its Friday edition to various stations in the South-south and other
parts of the country were seized in transit by soldiers who claimed to
be acting on ‘orders from above.’
P.M.NEWS
gathered that a van conveying the Friday edition of newspapers to Warri
and Benin City was seized by soldiers of the 3 Battalion of the Nigerian
Army at Okwuokoko, Delta State. It was also gathered that a detachment
of troops stormed The Nation’s circulation depot located in Effurun,
Sapele in search of the newspapers and the company’s staff. Reports from
Benin also indicated that soldiers early on Friday invaded the Nigeria
Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Benin waiting to seize
Friday’s edition of some newspapers.
It was gathered
that the soldiers checked if motorists were carrying copies of Friday
edition of newspapers.There were reports also that copies of Lagos-based
Vanguard newspaper were seized by soldiers.
Also,
management of Leadership and Daily Trust Newspapers raised alarm this
morning that soldiers have confiscated thousands of copies of the Friday
edition of the publications in transit in various parts of the country.
Azubuike
Ishiekwene, managing director of Abuja-based Leadership newspaper said
soldiers seized and destroyed thousands of the Friday edition of the
newspaper which they confiscated while in transit to various parts of
the country this morning.
According to Ishiekewene,
vans transporting Friday edition of Leadership to northern states like
Katsina, Gombe, Kano and Bauchi, were intercepted by soldiers who later
went on to destroy the newspapers. He said the soldiers also
confiscated the phones of the drivers of the vehicles.
He
added that staff of the newspaper in the south east and south-south
also reported that the vans heading to the area with the day’s edition
of the newspaper were confiscated.
Also, Mr. Isiaq
Ajibola, the managing director of Daily Trust, said copies of the
newspaper were seized in Kano and had not been returned at the time of
writing.
Ajibola said the soldiers claimed they were
looking for bombs being transported by the newspaper’s vans. He added
that while other newspapers seized were later released, the soldiers
have continued to hold on to copies of Daily Trust.
The
reasons for the clampdown on independent media by the military is not
known as at the time of filing in this story. Major General Chris
Olukolade, spokesperson for Defence Headquarters said he is still
investigating the allegations.
But Daily Trust had on
Wednesday published a story in which it detailed how some military
chiefs shared a land originally intended for building a barracks among
themselves and their families. Also, Leadership had on Tuesday reported
that 10 generals and five other senior army officers had been
court-martialed and found guilty of supplying arms to Boko Haram. The
military later denied the story.
The military clampdown
on the print media is coming at the heels of a directive by the
National Broadcasting Commission in a circular tagged ‘Additional
regulation for live and political coverage.’ Item number one on the
circular indicated that henceforth broadcasting stations must notify the
NBC in writing for at least 48 hours before transmitting a political
programme live. The NBC argued that the directive became necessary
because most of the live programmes that are being broadcast in the
media are impromptu and they are not scheduled.
But the
Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ expressed dismay and concern about
the NBC directive for live broadcast in the media in Nigeria in a
statement made available to P.M. NEWS on Friday.
The
NUJ in the statement signed by Garba Mohammed, its president, said the
directive is an attempt by the Federal Government to muscle and gag the
media.
“The NUJ after reading the circular felt that it
is completely retrogressive, it’s unjustified as far as we are
concerned and we also consider it to be part of the attempt to muscle
and gag the media.
“We also felt that this circular as
far as this democracy is concerned is not based on public interest
because we strongly believe that the public interest rational clearly
states that the broadcast stations should ascertain the needs of the
people and provide programme services to foster public understanding of
those issues. How this is done is clearly at the discretion of the
various broadcast stations, not the NBC.”
NUJ further
stated: “While the NUJ agrees that every broadcast station must conform
to the provisions of the codes, we cannot, however, accept the recent
provision of the NBC which we clearly consider as an attempt of
censorship to the broadcast media in Nigeria.
“We
thought that this is a democratic dispensation; we are not in the
military era and I am sure the NBC is also supporting this democracy and
we also felt that celebrating 15 years of uninterrupted democracy, for
the NBC to have brought this circular is an indication that we are
afraid it is suspicious, it is undemocratic, we feel that this circular
is a calculated attempt to temper and undermine the press freedom and
the freedom of individual Nigerians to freely express themselves and to
meaningfully contribute to the debate that will further enhance
Nigeria’s democratic culture.
“Therefore, I want to use
this opportunity to tell the NBC that this circular is not acceptable
to us NUJ, as members of the media and the NUJ will be at the forefront
to mobilise all the stakeholders to ensure that this obnoxious circular
and regulation is seriously fought against and ensure that this new
regulation did not succeed.
“I want to also use this
medium in the interest of our democracy and indeed in the interest of
the media and even the NBC as a regulatory agency to ask the commission
to have a rethink as far as this circular is concerned.
“I
want to ensure Nigerians that the NUJ will only consider programmes and
policies that will further enhance democracy. We will not allow a
public organisation like NBC to undermine the progress that has been
achieved on the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media.
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