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IBRAHIM QUADRI
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) have called on President Bola Tinubu to ensure the release of human rights activist, Dele Farotimi and other journalists in detention, saying intimidation and harassment of journalists and human rights activists must stop.
The two bodies made the call during a press conference on “Overcoming Challenges to Human Rights and Media Freedom in Nigeria,” to mark International Human Rights Day at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
The event, jointly organized by SERAP and NGE, and supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), brought together media executives, civil society organizations, human rights activists and key ministries, departments and agencies of government.
The statement which was jointly signed by the Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare and General Secretary of NGE, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren was read by the latter.
While condemning attacks under the present administration, the statement noted, “According to the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, press attackers have been verified to be 110 attacks in the year 2024.
“In comparison to the previous year, the press attackers between the first and third quarter of 2024 have surpassed that of the entire year in 2023.”
The statement added, “Somebody may just be tried in Sokoto for something and because you want to intimidate that journalist, you will file almost about one video suit against him, maybe in Lagos. You are suing the person who posted your case, it’s okay. So anytime the case is coming up, the person will have to spend money to come to Lagos to defend himself.
“So this is one of the strategies that some governments, agencies, or non-state actors are using to harass and intimidate journalists.”
The statement also called on the National Assembly to promptly review the cybercrime Act and other restrictive legislations and reverse them to bring them into line with Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights obligations
The statement further condemned, “Impunity for violation of the human rights of journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, and activists continue to seriously impede human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, media freedom, and discourage critical reporting by the media.
“We note that journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, and activists play an indispensable role in documenting and reporting on human rights violations.
An independent and diverse media that disseminates a wide range of information and ideas plays a critical role in supporting the functioning of a democratic society.
“Indeed, a free, uncensored and unhindered press of other media is essential in any society to ensure freedom of opinion and expression and the enjoyment of other human rights.
“Therefore, we call on Nigerian authorities at all levels to immediately and unconscionably release all journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, and activists who take stove for the peaceful exercise of human rights and doing their ultimate work, including activist Jembe Karatini, who is facing criminal reprimand and sarcasm charges.
“We therefore call on the Nigerian authorities to stop the threats of attacks against journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, and activists, and to stop detaining and imprisoning them solely for doing their job.
“We urge President Bola Tinubu and his government to publicly call on the Nigerian State Government, the Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Services, DSS, to show respect for the rights of everyone in the country, including journalists, human rights defenders, and activists.
“We equally call on President Bola Tinubu and his government to ensure the prompt, thorough, impartial, transparent, and effective investigation of all allegations of human rights violations against journalists and other human rights defenders, and to ensure that those suspected to be responsible for these violations are brought to justice, as well as provide access to justice and effective remedies to victims.
“We are concerned about the escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom, and the fragmented disregard for the rule of law by authorities at all levels.
“We note that the suppression of the press in recent times takes various forms, ranging from extradition to unlawful detentions, disappearances, malicious prosecution, and wrongful use of both legislation and law enforcement agencies.
“Nigeria, as a country, has a long and oppressive history of press-ganging and clampdown on media freedom, which is evidence of extensive state censorship of the media, and in some cases, the altered control of state-owned media houses.
“This position has not changed, despite almost 25 years of broken democratic rules in the fourth republic. The right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and media freedom are guaranteed under the Nigeria Constitutions 1999 as amended, and human rights treaties to which Nigeria is subject to.
“However, we are concerned about the deteriorating situation of human rights and rule of law in the country, and longstanding impunity for violation of the rights of journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders, and activists.
“We are also concerned about the persistent threat to journalists’ safety and the potential chilling effect of strategic lawsuits against public participation, slander, and harassment including by security agencies and politicians. And this is very common.
“We call on the Attorney General to push for the immediate amendment of the Cybercrime Act and other repressive legislations, and bring these laws in line with the Nigerian Constitution, Convention on the Rights of the Amended, and the traditional human rights legislation to which Nigeria is a state party.
“We urge the Ministry of Information to properly review restricting and oppressing media restriction in Nigeria, and pursue immediate revisions of any provisions that violate the right to freedom of expression, access to information, including online and media freedom, and ensure that any restrictions on media freedom are necessarily proportionate in these restrictions.
“We call on the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to stop using its code to clamp down on the broadcasting stations and to impose arbitrary fines on them. The NBC must review its code to bring them in line with the Nigerian Constitution and their mechanisms.”
“We urge the National Assembly to promptly review the cybercrime Act and other restrictive legislation and reverse them as appropriate to bring them into line with Nigeria’s international human rights obligations and commitments regarding the right to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom.
“We urge state governments to ensure that security agencies in the Nigerian police force and other authorities drop all charges against journalists and other media workers and critics and seek further arbitrary enclosures of radio and television stations.”
In his welcome address, the President of NGE, Mr Eze Anaba said it is the responsibility of journalists and civil society and others to be responsive to the current challenges.
“One is already playing out. Today, there is a picture of Dele Farotimi in handcuff whereas a former state Governor would be arraigned and without handcuff. We should be alert and responsive, Nigerians need us more than ever,” Anaba stated.
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The Northern Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, has condemned the suspension of the chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Mamman Mike Osuman allegedly, for telling the truth to power.
A statement by the group’s National President, Isah Abubakar on Saturday in Kaduna said a situation where Northern leaders prioritise self-gain to the general growth and well-being of their people was bad.
”What has the chairman said that is not the true reflection of what many could not say for fear of favour? We, the Northern youth, feel highly ashamed of the behaviour of the so-called leaders of the ACF in suspending their chairman for being bold enough to tell truth to power at a time when everyone is afraid to do so.
”Their actions tell more of the reflection of present northern Nigeria where everyone works for selfish interest, this was not the Northern Nigeria Prof Ango Abdullahi stood for, not the Northern Nigeria of late Yusuf Maitama Sule, or the Northern Nigeria late justice Mamma Nasir stood for or late Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi sacrifice for, this is a new Northern Nigeria where every individual works for his personal interest and don’t care of what happened to others.”
Abubakar called on the National Executive Council of the ACF to, as a matter of urgency, reverse their decision and return Mamman Osuman to his position and avoid anything that will further disgrace the organisation.
He warned that failure to heed the advice, members of NYCN will mobilise to shut down the headquarters of the ACF in Kaduna in the coming days.
He assured the general public that nobody can silence any group or organisation that is ready to tell the truth to power or bring facts to challenge the happening in the country,
Some officials of the Private Sector Partnership under the Lagos State Waste Management Authority have accused police officers at the Area M Command in Idimu of unlawfully arresting and detaining three of their members on Thursday in connection with a longstanding land dispute.
PUNCH Metro gathered from one of the officials, who spoke for the aggrieved members, Suleiman Jamiu, that their members were being harassed and mistreated by suspected land grabbers who allegedly forced them off a property allocated to them by the state government.
Jamiu said, “We are officials of the PSP, and the land was allocated to us by the state government. We have all the necessary documentation. We had a structure where we parked our refuse collection trucks near Powerline. Suddenly, a hotel was built on the structure, and later, land grabbers arrived and forced us out.”
“We found out they were the ones who sold the land and forced us out. Now, we have nowhere to park except outside. We’ve been pleading with them for over 20 years. Before we could obtain a court injunction, they started building a fence to divide the land.
“We filed a petition with the police when the injunction was issued, but nothing came out of it. Four days ago, they arrested two of our men, claiming we were obstructing traffic.
“They forced us to sign an undertaking to remove all the trucks within 24 hours, which we complied with, except for one truck that had an engine problem. They invited us today (Thursday) to give a statement, which we did, but then they detained our men and said they had a plan to charge them in court.”
When our correspondent reached out to the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Thursday, he explained that the officers were responding to a complaint from the local council, which alleged that the operators’ activities in the area were causing obstruction and pollution.
He said, “It is not about land-grabbing. The local government area wrote to the police complaining of how the operators were obstructing traffic and leaving waste in their vehicles, thereby causing air pollution for residents around.
“The operators were approached but they remained adamant. The police had to step in.”
The Lagos State Police Command has strongly condemned the act of vandalism by aggrieved subscribers at an MTN office in the FESTAC Town area of Lagos on Monday.
The mobile network subscribers besieged the MTN office due to the deactivation of their SIM cards as instructed by the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) over non-linkage of their National Identity Numbers (NINs) with their SIM cards.
In a viral video, subscribers were seen trying to pull down the corrugated iron sheets on the perimeter fence of the MTN office.
But, reacting to the development, the Lagos State Police Command, through its spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, berated the aggrieved subscribers for their attitude.
Sp Hundeyin stated, “This should not be the way to go!”
He added, “Meanwhile, the DPO FESTAC and his men responded immediately when they got the report. They succeeded in restoring normalcy and are still on the ground to maintain peace.”
A group under the auspices, Northern Youth Frontiers have condemned call by the House of Representatives’ resolution to sack the Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, over alleged ‘unguarded comments’ on local refineries.
The group described the move as “desperation and blatant bias.”
At a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, NorthWest Coordinator of the Group, Amb Abdul Usman called on the House of Reps to retract its resolution and uphold fairness.
“For balance, the House of Reps should also thoroughly investigate how, since the era of President Obasanjo, Dangote has been the only investor buying off all the available Black Oil in Nigerian refineries, shutting out his rivals, thereby manipulating everything.”
Amb Usman in the statement demanded protection for whistleblowers and industry regulators who dare to speak truth to power.
“Nigerians deserve better. We will not stand idly by while our lawmakers perpetuate injustice and enthrone monopoly,” he said.
Some Non Governmental Organisations have condemned what they describe as a lengthy investigation of a police officer accused of raping a 17-year-old girl inside a police station in Lagos.
PUNCH Metro reported that the suspect, who was believed to be attached with the Ogudu Area H Command, allegedly raped the teenager after she went to the station to report a stolen phone.
Despite assurances from the state police command and the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency that there would be no cover-up, the findings of the probe have not been disclosed two weeks later.
The command spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, had also said on July 14, 2024, that the command would not shield the suspect, saying, “The case is under full investigation. There is no plan to cover up the allegation.”
When PUNCH Metro reached out to Hundeyin on Thursday, his mobile phone rang without an answer, but he sent a text message instructing our correspondent to text him. As of the time this report was filed, he had not responded to the text message.
Additionally, the Lagos State DSVA had claimed that a medical test was being conducted on the survivor. When our correspondent contacted the spokesperson, Adejoke Ladenegan-Oginni, about the test status, she said the agency would forward the results to the appropriate channel once available.
“We are not the ones conducting the medical examination. We will forward the results to the appropriate authorities once they are available. We are on top of the situation,” she told our correspondent on Thursday.
Responding to the prolonged investigation, the President of the Centre for Human and Social Economic Rights, Comrade Alex Omotehinse, criticised the Nigeria Police Force for setting a bad precedent.
“This is a usual police tactic. The LSDSVA should try as much as possible not to allow this investigation to drag on. They should do as much as possible to do a proper follow-up or else the police will sweep this case under the rug.
“This case would have been a proper incident for the police to clean their system. It should have been used as a deterrent to other officers who are using their offices in their divisions to perpetrate evil,” he said.
The founder of Serene Early-Trobb Concept (Inclusive Initiative), Rhoda Olorunfemi, urged other civil society organisations to support the survivor and ensure that justice was served.
She said, “When I hear cases like this, I get angry because we are in a society where women and girls are not taken seriously. Every woman should be angry that the investigation is taking this long. Every civil society organisation should not sleep on this matter.
“The Nigeria Police Force is supposed to be protecting the masses and rights of the girl children. They are supposed to be enforcing the law. This matter may die if people don’t speak for the survivor.”
The suspect whose identities has yet to be made public had reportedly absconded from work after the incident but turned himself in for questioning later.