[dropcap]A[/dropcap] few days ago, the Nigerian police raided the head office of Premium Times, an online newspaper. During the raid, the publisher of the paper, Dapo Olorunyomi and the judiciary correspondent were arrested. Premium Times released a statement saying the raid and arrests came after they refused to retract a news story about the Nigerian Army and its operations.
In a democracy there are legal processes whereby an aggrieved party can ask the court to intervene in event of libel. What is happening here is quite different, it is about the army trying to hide the truth of their actions and they are willing to use force to do so seeing how President Buhari has demonstrated that he is taking the country back to the days of military dictatorship.
The free press in Nigeria is under siege and these are scary times. It is ironic that President Buhari who craves adulation of both the local and international press would try to muzzle the press. Buhari and his team would prefer to use the press for their own purposes of spreading propaganda, but would silence the press when they insist on doing their job which is to report the truth, inform the people, and maintain a free flow of information.
In September 2016, Amnesty International reported that the number of arrests and detentions of bloggers and journalists in the country demonstrates how determined Buhari’s government is to crush dissent and stifle freedom of expression. They noted that the Nigerian constitution and international human rights law guaranteed freedom of expression. However, a democratically elected government raided a media house and arrested journalists for publishing the truth, and failing to retract same story when asked to do so. Surely this is not healthy for democracy!
The executive, legislative and judiciary have separate roles and without separation of powers, the government would fall apart and transform into a totalitarian government. In the same vein, the press has a role to play to maintain an informed, vibrant, and decent society. A free press enables the society to have conversations on the issues of concern and enables the public to exercise their civic responsibilities and participate in decision making.
A free press is required for the powerful and the government to be accountable. Corruption and abuse of power flourishes in darkness, but when news and information is freely available the government can better be held to account. It is interesting to note that in every dictatorship, one of the first actions of the government is to eliminate a free press. As a matter of fact, in authoritarian regimes the government controls the press. There is a straight line between a free press and a democratic society.
It is therefore troubling that a democratically elected government should try to muzzle the press in the manner in which Buhari’s government is doing.
Another important reason why the country needs a free press is so that the press can relay news and information which will provide records that will serve as historical accounts in the future. Very often, societies look at its past through the lens of news stories published at a certain time period. The quote “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” is apt. If we allow our story to be silenced, how then can we look back and learn lessons from the past to ensure a better future?
It is tempting for a wanna-be tin-pot dictator like Muhammad Buhari to try to muzzle the press as soon as he gets into office. It is the only way he knows. Ineffective and intellectually bankrupt leaders do not trade with ideas, they trade on propaganda and oppression.
The press is an important force in any society and Nigeria’s democracy is too young, and its unity too fragile to allow a tyrant to overrun the country. It will set development back decades and Nigeria may never recover.
Edikan Uko is a political activist, business strategist, and human capital management professional. She sits on the Editorial Board of The Trent. She tweets from @EdikanUko.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
