Outrage and condemnation have trailed the seizure of copies of yesterday’s editions of four newspapers by security agents and soldiers. The media houses affected are The Nation, Punch, Daily Trust and Leadership newspapers.
In its reaction, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, in a release said: “The Nigerian Guild of Editors is scandalized and shocked to the marrows by conduct of security agents, particularly the military, which laid siege to the roads round the country on yesterday and seized consignments of newspapers meant to be sold to the general public. The crackdown lasted throughout the morning hours, causing huge economic losses to the publishing houses.
“A statement signed by Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, later in the day said the onslaught was launched after security agencies received “intelligence reports indicating movement of material with grave security implications across the country, using the channel of newsprint related consignments.
“This explanation from the military is unacceptable to us. In fact, it goes a long way to reinforce the apocryphal belief quite common place among security agencies that they are much more patriotic than anybody else. Apparently, they had been itching to open a battle front with the country’s ever irresistible media and thus hid behind a smokescreen to deal a lethal blow at economic jugular of newspapers. The media do not bear arms, rather we bear information which sheds light on darkness, no matter how seemingly impenetrable the darkness is. Information sets free. It emancipates from judgments. Let no one accuse the media of flimsy and nebulous security breach and hide under the umbrella to traumatize us. Count the media out of anything not designed for the cohesion and general good of the country.
“We reject the label of bearer of arms or any other form of ordinance, to do mischief against our own country. If the siege arose out of the need to call the dog a bad name in order to hand it, Nigerian editors roundly and soundly reject such negative profiling.”
In the same vein, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) described the action as unfortunate.
The National President of union, Mr. Sani Garba, said the body condemned the action of the military in its entirety, saying it was “unfortunate that at this material time, when the security agencies and government need the co-operation and support of the media to address the increasing cases of insecurity in Nigeria, especially, insurgency in the Northern part of the country, the military went ahead to seize and burn copies of the four newspaper organisations. We feel that whatever the content which the military felt strongly about, they should have allowed them to be circulated. If eventually there is any content that is a security challenge to them, there are civil procedures for addressing such.”
The NUJ president said the union is demanding unreserved apology of the military for engaging in such unpopular action, and that the NUJ was in contact with the affected media organizations to access the damage done by the action and would not hesitate to mobilize the stakeholders to resist and fight such action.
The council chairman of the NUJ, Lagos State, Mr. Deji Elumoye, condemned the action, saying it was a ploy of the Federal Government to gag the press as the 2015 general elections approach.
He said the NUJ would take legal steps to fight the action of the military.
On the reason given by the military for the action, Elumoye said such reason was comical. He went further: “These are media houses. They were taking their products to the market to sell, that is, newspapers. So, they are just trying to give reason that cannot stand. It does not make sense. In newspaper houses, we don’t carry arms, we use pens and computers. So, it is a lie. It does not make sense”.
Edetan Ojo, the Executive Director of the Media Rights Agenda, said he was surprised that the government was resorting to the harassment of the media at this critical time.
He said further: “We believe that it is counterproductive and it amounts to really chasing shadows. We are concerned about the widespread nature of this incident because we understood that apart from The Nation newspaper, The Leadership newspaper was also affected and that this same thing occured in several locations. It seems deliberate and systematic.
“We are not at all satisfied with the explanation from the defence headquaters about it being a routine security action.”
Dr. Joe Odumakin of the Women Arise described the seizure of newspapers as shocking and that it was a return to the barbaric like junta era of harassing innocent citizens.
She continued: “It is a sad reminder of the dreaded military days. It is disheartening to know that our security agents would descend on law-abiding citizens of this country. Honestly, this unruly security agents should have been seconded to the war zones where they can use their overzealous muscles against terrorists and not against peaceful drivers who were just conveying papers.
“Our security agents should be reminded that part of what makes democracy work is the recognition of the rights of our people and also the freedom of the press as enshrined in the constitution. They should never degenerate into this anarchy and vicious cycle that they have resorted to.”
Human rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, said the action was “ condemnable in every ramification. Unless we stand firm and protect this democracy, there are many government officials in the military and in the police who are out to scuttle it. We won’t let them do that because we fought for this democracy.
“Whoever did it should be fished out and punished. The action is against freedom of expression. We saw it earlier when Mbu gave a directive that people should not protest any more against the abduction of the Chibok girls. Now we are seeing newspapers being harassed, may be at gun point. It is condemnable. “
Chief Ladi Williams, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, expressed surprise at the development.
He said: “ The military owe Nigerians explanation on this.”
Exasperated by the apparent throw back to military era, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) vowed to mobilise Nigerians against the development which it said could be a prelude to the clampdown on the media in contradiction of the various charters on human rights that Nigeria is signatory to.
National Vice President of the committee, Comrade Taiwo Otitolaiye, expressed dismay over the turn of event by the government, saying the Federal Government should concentrate on using the military to tackle the raging insurgency in the northern part of the country instead of using them to muzzle the media.
Otitolaiye said: “The CDHR sees this as a brigandage employed by the Federal Government, using security agents to carry out what is clearly a rape on the right to information and freedom of expression. We see it as a form of human rights abuse o the drivers who are detained and vendors and other workers affected by this development.
“It is a rape of the right to freedom of information; it is a ga against the media. The government should look within itself and face the serious insurgency of Bokko Haram and use the military there instead of using them against the media.
“We call on Nigerians to be vigilant and fight for their rights because freedom is never won on a platter of gold. A people will always get the type of government they represent themselves. As for us in the CDHR we are ready to mobilise Nigerians against this development. We condemn it in very strong terms.”
Akure activist and lawyer, Titiloye Charles has condemned the seizure of ‘The Nation’ Newspapers.
The activist noted that the action of government is a ploy to gag critical press and deny the general public access to information.
Titiloye said: “We are in a civil rule, government and the governed should seek recourse in court and refrain from any act of self help like this.
“It is unacceptable that an edition of The Nation newspaper can be confiscated by security agents without recourse to the law court.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman of the Newspaper Vendors and Distributions Association in Niger State, Mr. Festus Elijah, said they were shocked by the actions of the soldiers which he said reminded them of the military era.
Also the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) in the state, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, who was at the newsstand when the military raided condemned the actions of the soldiers and lamented that the military action had denied people their source of livelihood and access to information as guaranteed by the constitution.
According to him, “this is a democratic setting; this action is uncivilized, and should not be condoned by all well-meaning Nigerians”.
It would be recalled, security agents and military personnel, in the early hours of yesterday, stopped vans conveying copies of newspapers of three media houses, The Nation, Leadership and the Daily Trust to different parts of the country, causing huge losses to the newspaper companies.
The Punch also said some newspaper parcels were torn by the soldiers.
