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Press Freedom: Nigerian authorities tighten noose on media
By Adebayo Obajemu
After what seemed like a lull on media siege, authorities in the country across board, from states to local government well up the ladder to federal authorities have renewed attacks on free speech. More and more media practitioners are being detained from trumped charges to flimsy and trivial excuses all in an attempt to silence dissent and stifle probes into the dark recesses of their administration.
The latest in the wave of renascent assault on the media is the detention of a sports reporter in Akwa Ibom State, Kufre Carter, who has been in detention for several days at the State Security Service (SSS) facility in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for allegedly making defamatory remarks against a commissioner in the state. Mr Carter, 27, works with XL 106.9 FM, a local radio station in Akwa Ibom.
He was allegedly taken into custody on April 27 when he honoured SSS invitation in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. He was subsequently arraigned on a three-count charge at a magistrate court in Uyo and accused of making defamatory remarks against the Commissioner for Health in Akwa Ibom State, Dominic Ukpong. Mr Carter’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said then he believed that his client was being tortured by SSS officials.
“From all indications, we reasonably believe that SSS officers are torturing Mr Kufre Carter in their custody in their effort to extract a ‘confessional statement’ from our client,” Mr Effiong said in a statement. “The SSS is torturing our client for him to hand-over his private mobile phone to them.”Many well-meaning Nigerians, NGOs and the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom chapter, have demanded Carter’s release from detention.
If there is any governor that has shown total disregard for press freedom it is no one other than Ebonyi state governor, David Umahi. On April 20, the governor went beyond his brief and in a statewide broadcast announced the banning for the life of two reporters. He said he had banned the state correspondents of The Sun newspaper, Chijioke Agwu, and the Vanguard newspaper, Peter Okutu, from entering the Government House or any government facility in the state.
He announced his displeasure with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), for failing to discipline their members. The governor, had, a week before his blanket ordered the arrest of Agwu over a report he did on the Lassa Fever outbreak in the state. He has since denied placing the ban and apologised after deluge of international and local condemnation.
Three days later, Okutu was arrested on the orders of Ohaukwu LGA Chairman, Clement Odah, over a report he did on the alleged military invasion of Umuogodoakpu-Ngbo community in the council area. Both Journalists were later released. The governor declared the two journalists persona non grata. He further said the people were angry with the journalists and might begin to visit violence on them if they continue to cause panic in the state.
In a tragic-comic fashion, the governor said, “If you think you have the pen, we have the koboko.”
He is following the footstep of Ben Ayade, Cross Rivers state governor who rules the state in martial style declaring war on the media, imprisoning Agba Jalingo, a journalist and other dissenting voice.
The growing attack against free speech has recorded another victim in the person of one George Udom , who was recently arraigned in Akwa Ibom at the same magistrate court for defamation after he wrote on Facebook that nine commissioners in Governor Udom Emmanuel’s cabinet tested positive for the coronavirus.
As if Governor Udom Emmanuel is allergic to press freedom and free speech, a month ago, a lecturer in the Akwa Ibom State University and an administrative officer in the same university were also charged in the state for publishing alleged defamatory remarks on Facebook against the university vice-chancellor, Eno Ibanga.
Jones Abiri, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Weekly Source newspaper, was arrested in May 2019 and charged with cybercrime, sabotage and terrorism. The case in question-related to 2016 allegations of links to rebels in the Niger Delta, after which he was detained by Nigeria’s intelligence agency for two years without trial.
In Cross River, Agba Jalingo, who publishes the Cross River Watch paper, was arrested in August 2018, days after the publication of an article about alleged corruption. He went through hell in detention lasting over two years, after being charged with terrorism.
A report by the Amnesty International entitled: ‘Endangered Voices: Attack on Freedom of Expression in Nigeria’, indicates that at least 19 journalists, bloggers and media practitioners have been subjected to attacks between January and September 2019. These vary from physical attacks, verbal assaults, death threats, surveillance, and indiscriminate detention to pressure journalists to reveal sources, mostly perpetrated by Nigerian security forces.
The danger faced by the journalists goes beyond harassment by authorities to hazard of the job while covering news development, which further highlights susceptibility and vulnerability of media in difficult periods. Precious Owolabi, a trainee journalist for Channels TV died of injuries sustained by live ammunition while covering a protest organised by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) on 22nd July 2019.
Police officers reportedly beat two journalists covering a violent protest on 24th September 2019 in Uyo in Akwa Ibom State against a recent ban on motorcycles, according to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
Two journalists suffered humiliation and beating. Okodi Okodi and Owoidoho Udofia, both journalists for Inspiration FM, and their driver were approached by police officers when they returned to their car after covering the protest and reportedly asked to remove their shirts and roll across the floor. Officers allegedly further beat the journalists while at the police station.
Also on record was the assault on The Guardian reporter and other journalists.
On 12th November 2019, agents of the Department of State Services (DSS) reportedly beat up Oludare Richards of The Guardian and reporters for Arise and Galaxy Televisions while covering a protest to demand the release of Omoyele Sowore, the organiser of the #RevolutionNow protests in August 2019 in front of the DSS offices in Abuja.
Richards was violently shaken and beaten which resulted in a head wound and bruises on his arms. Also beaten was Victor Ogungbenro on 5th August 2019. He was video editor and cameraman for the online news outlet Sahara Reporters. After beating him, he was detained by police officers while covering the #RevolutionNow protests in Lagos.
Jeremiah Achibong, a reporter for an online news outlet, CrossRiverWatch and Nickolas Kalu of The Nation were detained by police officers on 5th August 2019 in Calabar, Cross River State, while searching for information on the arrest of Ugbal Jonathan, a journalist earlier arrested by the police.
In Ondo State, Sahara Reporters correspondent, Tosin Ajuwon was reportedly manhandled and arrested while he filming the protest in Ore , despite having identified himself as a journalist. He was held in custody and interrogated for several hours before being released.
On 8th November 2019, editor of the tabloid First Weekly Magazine, Dipo Awojobi was arrested following a defamation complaint by Olumide Aderinokun, a leading politician of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, according to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). The complaint is reportedly related to an article published on 1st September 2019 alleging that Aderinokun was under police investigation for bank fraud.
Editor of NewsDigest, Gidado Yushau, and the media outlet’s webmaster Adebowale Adekoya were arrested respectively on 29th October in Abuja and 24th October 2019 in Lagos. According to media reports, the two were brought to Ilorin, Kwara State, for further questioning following a complaint filed by a company owned by a Special Advisor to President Buhari, Sarah Alade. The complaint relates to an article published in May 2018 alleging that the company Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industry allows its workers to smoke cigarettes and hemp in the factory.
Yushau and Adekoya were released on bail on 31st October 2019. On 12th November 2019, Yushau and the young journalist who authored the article, Alfred Olufemi, were arraigned before a court in Ilorin, Kwara State, where they were charged with defamation and criminal conspiracy. The case was adjourned to 13th January 2020.
On 16th September 2019, Mary Ekere, a journalist for the newspaper The Post was detained in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, after taking pictures of operation of the Environmental and Waste Management Agency task force at Ibom Plaza. She was released two days later on 18th September 2019.
Publisher of the online news outlet CrossRiverWatch, Agba Jalingo was charged with treasonable felony and the disturbance of public peace on 30th August 2019. He was arrested a few days earlier on 22nd August 2019 in Lagos, and taken to Calabar, River State, where the media outlet is based. The two charges relate to an article published on 17th July 2019 alleging the involvement of the Governor of Rivers State, Benedict Ayade in diverting funds allocated to the creation of a microfinance bank. According to news reports, Jalingo was also accused of terrorism for allegedly being involved in the #RevolutionNow movement.
On 4th June 2019, a group of police officers brutalised, threatened and arrested journalist Kofi Bartels of the radio station Nigeria Info 92.3 FM after they saw Bartels filming police officers beating a young man in front of his home in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, according to the journalist who spoke with CPJ.
On 30th March 2019, journalist Abiri Jones, editor of the newspaper Weekly Source was arrested in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State by armed individuals believed to belong to the Department of State Services (DSS). He is facing charges of terrorism, economic sabotage and fraud for offences allegedly committed in 2016. He is accused of having sent threatening messages to officials at the oil companies Shell and Agip, to have threatened to blow up oil installations and having led a group of people to blow up oil pipes, similar allegations to those made against him previously.
His arrest comes only nine months after his release, after spending two years in detention without being presented before a judge, as reported previously on the Monitor. Abiri Jones was released on bail on 24th October 2019.
A group of journalists, who were interviewed as part of the coverage of the Commission Nominees at the State Assembly of Ebonyi State in Abakaliki were assaulted and beaten on 30th July 2019 by a group of thugs on the orders of the State Assembly representative for the Afikpo South West Constituency Nkemka Onuma, according to the MFWA. Onuma reportedly interrupted the interview and threatened to ‘slap’ the spokesperson for the journalists, Nwafor Samson of the newspaper Nigerian Pilot after the journalists protested against this action.
Samson and fellow journalists Ogochukwu Anioke of the newspaper Nation and Grace Egbo of the Tribune Newspaper, who was pregnant at the time, were reportedly injured. The assault was condemned by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Three journalists were shot and injured while covering a political rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ikeja, Lagos, on 8th January 2019. It concerns Emmanuel Oladesu of the newspaper The Nation, a correspondent for News Telegraph, Temitope Ogunbanke and cameraman for Ibile Television, Abiodun Yusuf. According to MFWA, the journalists were injured when gunfire broke out between rival groups of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). Emmanuel Oladesu was reportedly critically injured.
On 6th January 2019, security forces consisting of the secret police, soldiers and officers of the Department of State Services, raided the offices of the newspaper Daily Trust in the city of Maiduguri, in the northeastern Borno State, and detained two of its journalists, Uthman Abubakar and Ibrahim Sawab. Later on the same day, the headquarters of the Daily Trust in Nigeria’s capital Abuja was also raided by a group of security forces, who confiscated computers and detained the head of the editorial production Hussaini Garba Mohammed. Security forces also surrounded the newspaper’s offices in Lagos for about five hours.
Military spokesperson Sani Usman reportedly said in a statement that the newspaper divulged classified military information in an article published on 6th January, and therefore undermined national security. The article claimed that the Nigerian military had planned an operation to take back the town of Baga and surrounding towns, reportedly seized by a Boko Haram faction in December 2018. Hussaini Garba Mohammed was released the same day, and Ibrahim Sawab early the next day on 7th January. Uthman Abubakar was released on 8th January.
Human rights activists and civil society groups say that the muzzling of the press under Buhari has raised the spectre of a return to the dark days of military rule in Nigeria. Buhari, a former army general who has been president since 2015, was also Nigeria’s head of state in the mid-1980s when he took power in a military coup. At the time he introduced the draconian Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) law, better known as Decree 4. The law targeted the press, criminalising the publication of information deemed injurious to the junta.
Dr Ayodele Fasakin, a media scholar told this newspaper that “This administration is acting to type. Buhari is not a democrat and he is a long-standing enemy of free speech.”
This view was corroborated by another academic and media researcher, Dr Anthony Oyekunle of the mass communication department at the University of Ilorin. “We live in an administration that has allowed the trampling of media freedom, in an era where state governors have become emperors.”
