Data from a research by global watchdog, Amnesty International shows that just within the first nine months of 2019, nineteen journalists in Nigeria have suffered various forms of attacks from agents of the states for publishing or expressing critical views. These attacks were in form of verbal and physical assaults, arrests, torture and prosecution for a cocktail of offenses such as defamation, terrorism, cyberstalking, kidnapping, treason, criminal trespass and theft of state documents. And often, the fundamental human rights of these journalists are not respected. Even when these persecuted journalists seek legal redress, the government fails to obey court orders and does all it could to frustrate the course of justice. It is safe to say the Nigerian government has repudiated its obligation under international law to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the right to freedom of expression and media freedom.
Since the inception of the current administration in 2015, the civic space has continued to shrink with consistent attacks on freedom of information and expression as well as media freedom. The plot began surreptitiously in 2015 with an anti-social media bill sponsored by Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC Kebbi South), to “to criminalise anyone disseminating via text message, Twitter, WhatsApp, or any other form of social media an “abusive statement” intending to “set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law”.
When that bid failed, another phony bill seeking to regulate Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) came up. The bill, sponsored by Umar Buba Jibril, (APC Kogi West), sought for the establishment of yet another federal agency to supervise, coordinate and monitor NGOs with sweeping powers to regulate their conduct and grant a license for operation renewable every two years. Without such license, no NGO can operate and the agency could refuse renewal for no reason. What is more, only the license of the agency (not registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission) confers legal personality and perpetual succession on NGOs.
When these efforts failed, the government, in 2017, started railing against what they call “hate speech”, with the Vice President, Yemi Osinjabo, likening it to terrorism and vowing the government will no longer tolerate it. Although Osinbajo never defined what exactly he or the government meant by hate speech, the army provided a precise definition when it announced through its director of defence information, that it was creating “strategic media centres to monitor social media in order to sieve and react to all anti-government, anti-military, and anti-security propaganda.”
With this, the government could conveniently lump any statement or criticism by group or persons which caused it consternation, into its amorphous definition of hate speech and promptly clamp down on such groups or persons.
Away from the centre, many state governors, most prominently Kaduna and Cross River governors, have been vigorously clamping down on free speech by journalists and on social media. As we write, many Nigerians are in jail undergoing phony trials – some for treason, terrorism and kidnapping) and some have simply disappeared without trace for criticising public officials.
The desire to circumscribe free speech, media freedom and freedom of information is a feature of any government headed by Muhammadu Buhari. We recall that in 1984, at the height of the economic malaise, scarcity of essential commodities and hunger pervading the country, the military regime of General Buhari rolled out a series of decrees and laws to curtail the freedom of expression and media freedom in Nigeria. The infamous decree 4 prohibited journalists from reporting anything that could embarrass the regime, even if it was true.
Although the president promised to govern, this time, in accordance to the rule of law, his appetite for suppressing the freedom of Nigerians and the media has not waned.
Nigerians must not allow the government to turn the country into a police state. If there is one thing history has taught us in Nigeria, it is that we must never allow the government to draw the borders of free speech. Nigeria is a democracy and not a theocracy or monarchy. Criticisms, dissent and free speech comes with it. If, as Harry S Truman will say, you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
