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Attacks On The Media In February 2001
Journalists Barred From Covering Rivers Assembly
Correspondents of some private newspapers based in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, were on February 7 prevented from entering the
State House of Assembly to cover the day’s proceedings. They were turned
back by security details stationed at the gate because their names were
not found in the list of journalists accredited to cover the day’s
proceedings prepared by the House.
The journalists included Correspondents of TELL, TheNEWS/Tempo
magazines, National Concord, National Interest, The Punch, The Guardian
newspapers among others.
Security men at the Assembly complex gate claimed that they
were acting on “orders from above”. The security men who barred them from
entering the complex warned the journalists not to insist on going into
the complex or they would be cross with them.
Attempts by the journalists to see the Speaker of the
House, Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and the Director of Press Affairs,
Goodluck Ikwe, to confirm the claim of “orders from above” were also
thwarted by the security men.
Governor Threatens To Prosecute Journalists Over Sharia
Reports
Governor Ahmadu Muazu of Bauchi State has threat-ened to
prosecute journalists who write negative reports on the implementation of
Sharia in the state.
Muazu, who read the riot act to journalists in the state
after signing the Sharia Bill into law, told reporters that: "You
(journalists) should put sentiments aside and report objectively issues
that will see to the success of the system by educating members of the
public”.
He warned that failure to abide by his admonition would
earn the “offending” journalist prosecution.
The governor also announced the setting up of a nine-member
committee to serve as an implementing task force with Alhaji Muhammadu
Danmadami as the chairman.
Others include Mr. Lawan Ibrahim, Chairman of the state
branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Al-Mustapha, Dr. Hadi
Dahiru Usman Bauchi, a representative of the chief judge and that of the
Grand Khadi, a representative of emirs of Bauchi and Kataguri and the
state solicitor-general who will serve as the committee's secretary.
The committee was charged with preparing modalities for
sharia implementation in the state before its take-off as well as fix
appropriate dates for the ban on all anti-sharia vices.
Bauchi State brings to seven, the number of states that
have adopted sharia law in the country. Others states where the law is
being implemented include Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe, Jigawa and Kano.
Magistrate Detains Two Journalists
A Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate, Mrs. C. I. Nwankwo, on
February 13, ordered the detention of two journalists for covering
proceedings in her court without her authorisation.
The reporters, Sam Chindah of The Tide and Rosemary Nwisi
from The Post Express newspapers had arrived at Mrs. Nwankwo's court when
proceedings had commenced. They walked in and sat in the front row benches
reserved for members of the public.
The journalists had hardly begun to write when the Chief
Magistrate ordered her police orderly to arrest them on the grounds that
they did not obtain her permission before beginning to record the
proceedings. She also ordered the policeman to confiscate the journalists'
writing materials.
She did not listen in to the journalists' plea that she had
started proceedings before they entered the court thereby making it
impossible for them to inform her of their presence.
She specifically asked the policeman to lock up the two
journalists (male and female) with criminals so that they would have what
to write. The journalists were detained in the court cell where till the
court closed the day's session.
The Magistrate said she was ordering their release because
of appeals from numerous "friends of the court", and cautioned that
journalist should report cases in her court without obtaining her express
permission.
Chindah's writing materials were yet to be released at the
late hours of February 15.
Journalists In Kano State Face Harassment By Sharia
Implementers
Kano State has began a campaign against journalists, using
the state-appointed Hisba (Vanguard) committee which enforces compliance
with sharia law. This is being done by a mosque-to-mosque campaign
undertaken by the committee meant to whip up sentiments against
journalists in the State by portraying them as anti-sharia elements.
This has forced the state council of Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ), to raise an alarm and appeal to well meaning citizens
to save them from an impending physical harassment and general censorship.
Besides the campaign of calumny being waged against the
journalists, the Hisba committee members recently invaded the press centre
where they injured one person and vandalised six cars.
The Hisba committee claimed afterwards that they were
harassed and prevented from inspecting the press centre.
But in a press statement signed by the acting chairman of
the council, Comrade Sanusi Jibrin, the journalists denied any such action
and said the union "views this attack on its good image as a calculated
attempt by some faceless individuals to blackmail journalists in Kano
State."
The statement also recalled that during the previous week a
group of Hisba committee members from Tarauchi Local Government raided the
local press centre while armed with deadly weapons, and condemned the
action as "uncivilised and counter to the norms and regulations guiding
the operations of the Nigeria police."
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