Daily Post’s headline ‘Military vs Nigerian Newspapers: More publications confiscated as siege enters Day 2′ tells the tale of the latest military actions against Newspapers in Nigeria.
Whilst the terrorist onslaught by Boko Haram is ongoing, in spite of all that, the might of military action has now, unceremoniously shifted on stamping authority on the defenceless newspaper vendors and distributors creating a huge financial loss on proprietors across Nigeria. This clampdown on the print press in ominous of the military.
This onslaught which was first reported on Friday morning (6th June) has affected no fewer than half a dozen national journals, including The Nation, Vanguard, Punch, Leadership Business Day, National Mirror, Newswatch and Complete Sports according to reports.
Reports have it that soldiers on highways in Bayelsa, Oyo, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Sokoto, Benue, Bauchi, Nasarawa states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), blocked circulation van drivers in route to deliver newspapers to agents and vendors today.The vehicles and contents were confiscated while drivers were arrested and their mobile phones seized.
Yet, the Defence Headquarters yesterday denied any form of onslaught, saying its action followed “intelligence report(s) indicating movement of materials with grave security implications across the country, using the channel of newsprint-related consignments.”
Several of the vehicles searched were apprehended and remained in the custody of the soldiers at their barracks, despite the fact that no incriminating material was found in any of them.
In an exclusive chat with DailyPost on Saturday, Lekan Otufodunrin, The Nation’s Managing Editor (Online), wondered what the press had done wrong.
“We don’t know what is happening. Our papers were seized yesterday in different parts of the country, it has continued today,” he said.
it is almost incomprehensible to imagine these tyrannical acts are been carried out in a democratic dispensation, with the likes of Reuben Abati, a former newspaper editor keeping mute over the matters. This is an indictment on democracy. It is an indictment on the President. it is an indictment on everything Nigeria has fought hard over the past 12 years of un-interrupted democracy to achieve.
Fear is gradually creeping into the psyche of Nigerians again, however, the good news still remains that, at the height of strangulation by the last Military despot, the late Sanni Abacha, it eventually amounted to nothing. President Jonathan either seems to have lost the plot or he has sanctioned these acts that can only be described as military-like.
The press and Nigerians will not easily shift under the carpet and forget this latest indiscrimination by ‘General’ Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s regime knowing fully well the forth coming general elections, ironically is 8 months away.
