It was gathered that Nigerian military has, since Friday
last week laid siege to the roads to assault vendors, many of them were also
beaten up.
In Niger State, armed soldiers laid siege to the distribution
centres, impounding copies of some newspapers and stopping the distribution of
The Nation, Daily Trust and Leadership.
It was also gathered that “Soldiers were at the centres
in Ibadan, Warri and Makurdi. We are still expecting reports from other parts
of the country
An activist-lawyer, Mr Morakinyo Ogele, threatened to sue the
army if it does not explain within seven days why the newspapers are being
seized.
He said seizure of newspaper and invasion of distributing
centres by the military personnel is not only barbaric, but a pose danger to
democratic cultures as well as amount to a breach to section 39 of the 1999
Constitution.
“It is unconstitutional for the military to impound and
disrupt the distribution of a newspaper, thus denying people from receiving
information as stipulated by Constitution.
“The most worrisome of this unconstitutional act is that the
Federal Government has not condemned the illegal act of the military, which
suggests they are acting on the script of the government.
“The military authority should come out and inform whether
journalists or editors are a security risk to justify their action.
“In a decent society where rule of law is in full operation,
soldiers are only to defend citizens and not to breach the Constitution. Our
army should learn how to respect people’s opinion as stop harassing the media.
“The Nigerian Army is hereby put on notice to explain within
seven days why they are impounding newspapers; otherwise I will initiate court
action against military authorities at the law court,” Ogele said.
Vanguard For Justice and Good Governance (VAJAG)
spokesperson, Mr. Kingsley Alaranse, said: “They (the military) need to be told
in unmistakable terms, or better still advised to go back to the school of
history, in order to be properly tutored on how not to muffle or gag the media.
No one, no matter how powerful, even more than the former Idi-Amin of Uganda,
can win the battle against the media because it is the soul of any country and
fourth estate of the realm.”
Major General Chris Olukolade, the Director of Defence
Information, has 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.
President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors,(NGE) Mr. Femi
Adeshina in a press statement titled 'We bear liberty, not arms' insisted
"It is a throwback to the days of military repression, which we thought we
had long put behind us as a country. We reject the label of bearer of arms, or
any other form of ordnance, 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 hang it,
Nigerian editors roundly and soundly reject such negative profiling.
"The explanation from the military is unacceptable. In
fact, it goes a long way to reinforce the apocryphal belief quite commonplace
among security agencies that they are much more patriotic than anybody else.
Apparently, they had been itching to open a battlefront with the country's
ever-irrepressible media, and thus hid behind a smokescreen to deal a lethal
blow at the 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 shackles. It
develops the mind, and helps people to make independent, rational judgments.
Let no one accuse the media of any flimsy and nebulous security breach, and
hide under that umbrella to traumatize us. Count the media out of anything not
designed for the cohesion and general good of our country", he said.
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