As the four arrested journalists of Leadership Newspaper remain in detention by the Nigeria Police Force for publishing the bromide of a secret document that has embarrassed the government, former Vice president (Africa) of the World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has warned against attempts to muzzle the press, saying journalists have a major role to play, especially in countries with high corruption rate, such as Nigeria.
Four staff of the media house — Director, Human Resources, Mrs. Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe; Managing Editor, Chucks Ohuegbe; Group News Editor, Tony Amokeodo; and a Senior Reporter, Chibuzor Ukaibe — were detained on Monday at the Police Headquarters in Abuja and locked in a cell.
Writing on her Twitter handle on Tuesday, Ezekwesili urged the government to revert to due process in handling its grievances against the media rather than engage in uncivil means that are not in tandem with the basic tenets of democracy.
“Government should revert to a path of due process on the Leadership Newspapers episode and avoid shrinking the Democratic space,” Ezekwesili warned, emphasizing that the media is the Fourth Estate of the Realm with clear constitutional accountability roles.
“True Democracies guard this role,” she added.
Ezekwesili observed that the country’s books of laws and rules have a plethora of democratic provisions and steps for dealing with unethical media practices once proven and therefore wondered why the government was not employing them. She also blamed the media for what “entrenched condoning of corruption that now sadly defines our Democracy.”
Similarly, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) on Tuesday berated the Police for allowing itself to be used as a presidential tool against perceived opposition, in this case, the media.
In a statement by Osita Okechukwu, its spokesman, the organisation described the arrest as nothing more than harassment of those in the pen profession with the aim of silencing them, an action reminiscent of the military era.
“The Nigeria Police Force should allow the Presidency to explore the court option provided by the law, more so when the Presidency has denied the said publication,” the statement reads.
“In sum, we condemn an attempt by the Nigeria Police Force or indeed any other agency of the state to jeopardize our hard-earned Freedom of the Press. CNPP is of the considered view that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has adequately and sufficiently guaranteed the freedom of the press and therefore the frontiers of freedom shall not be breached by any organ of the state, person or group of persons.
“We are committed to the protection and guidance of freedom guaranteed by our constitution, UN Declaration of Human Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, (Ratification and Enforcement Act 2004), for freedom has remained one of the few dividends of democracy Nigerians enjoy in the midst of misgovernance [sic] and pervasive corruption.”
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) also condemned the arrest of the journalists over a story the government has refuted, describing it as the worst attack against press freedom under the Jonathan Administration and a sign of the seemingly inevitable descent into dictatorship by an increasingly desperate Presidency.
“’Why will the Police, and by extension those who are playing the puppeteers in this case, be interested in the source of a story that the government has described as fake?” ACN queried.
“’We demand an immediate and unconditional release of the detained journalists and the tendering of an unreserved apology to them. And if the Police is convinced that the journalists have broken any law, it should charge them to court. After all, the Police cannot be the accuser and the judge at the same time.”
Referring to Jonathan’s administration, the opposition party warned that no previous government, whether elected or not and irrespective of its level of brutality, has ever won any battle against the media, “and this administration will not be the first.”
