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| Nigeria - A nation under siege from a brutal tyrant |
There has been a string of arrests of media personalities
and suspensions of media outlets in Nigeria. Recently, some of the arrests have
been related to support for a protest tagged “Days of Rage” and #RevolutionNow,
against what supporters consider a failure of governance, but the harassment of
media in Nigeria is nothing new.
In January 2019, Nigerian Security Services raided multiple offices across the country of the Daily Trust, one of Nigeria’s largest
circulation newspapers, apparently angry at its published reports about
upcoming army operations against Boko Haram. President Buhari quickly ordered
the military to leave the newspaper’s offices, raising questions at who exactly
had ordered the raids. In April, an activist known as IG Wala was sentenced to seven years in jail for organizing a peaceful demonstration and for making
“unsubstantiated allegations” against a public official, the chairman of the
National Hajj Commission. He is in the process of appealing the ruling. He had
been denied bail, which he requested on health grounds until his appeal could
be heard. He was then transferred to a remote prison.
In June, DAAR Communications, owner of African
Independent Television and RayPower FM radio, had its license suspended
indefinitely, allegedly for failure to pay licensing
fees and for the presence of hate speech and suspect information from social
media in its programming. The following day a Federal High Court judge ordered the reopening of the networks. The owner of DAAR communications had accused the
director general of the National Broadcasting Commission of editorial
interference and political bias.
On August 2, Abubakar Dadiyata Idris, was apparently kidnapped. Family and friends are saying that he has been arrested by the DSS.
Known as Dadiyata, he was a fierce critic of Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano
state. The next day, the DSS arrested Omoyele Sowore, editor of Sahara Reporters, ostensibly
for supporting the #RevolutionNow Lagos demonstration. He was also the
presidential candidate for African Action Congress in the 2019 elections. His
support for the demonstration was, according to the police, grounds for
arresting him for advocating violence. There is a national and international
campaign by some human rights advocates for his release.
Allegations against those
arrested appear to be a mixture of the mundane, such as the failure to pay
licensing fees, and various forms of incitement or criticism of government
officials. It is worth noting that in at least some cases, courts have reversed
arrests and suspensions. The specifics of each case are obscure, at least for someone based outside of Nigeria. But people in authority are clearly nervous. The country is facing serious challenges ranging from Boko Haram to Middle Belt conflict over water and land use that falls along ethnic and religious lines. Amid these crises, social media in Nigeria, as elsewhere, can be irresponsible. Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna state has made explicit reference to the role of “fake news” to the Rwandan genocide. Nevertheless, what appears to be an acceleration of media arrests and intimidation must be cause for concern.
Source: Council on Foreign
Relations
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