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Bomb Scare at
Private Television Station Disrupts Transmission
There was temporary disruption of the broadcast of radio and television
signals at the Abuja offices of Daar Communications Limited, owners of Ray
Power FM and the Africa Independent Television (AIT) on 15 May 2006,
following a bomb scare which led to the evacuation of journalists and
workers from the premises.
The bomb scare came less than 24 hours after men suspected to be officers
of the State Security Service (SSS) invaded the office, disrupted
broadcast operations and seized the master tape of a documentary being
aired by the television station.
AIT, Nigeria's oldest and largest privately owned television network, has
been under intense pressure for several days since it began live
broadcasts of debates at the National Assembly on a Bill to amend the 1999
Nigerian Constitution to, among other things, allow President Olusegun
Obasanjo run for a third term in office. The live broadcasts are believed
to be making it impossible for the president's men to manipulate the
outcome of the debates as it is evident from the broadcasts that most
members of the National Assembly do not support the proposal to elongate
the tenure of the president.
On 14 May 2006, security agents from the SSS raided the Abuja office of
AIT and seized the master tape of a documentary which the station had been
airing tracing failed attempts by previous Nigerian leaders to perpetuate
themselves in office. The security agents ordered the station to
discontinue the broadcast of the documentary.
An official of Daar Communications said the media house had received phone
calls from "highly placed" Nigerians informing them there were plans to
use some foreign intelligence agents to bomb AIT on 15 May 2006.
The management of the organization made formal complaint to the
Commissioner of Police of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Lawrence
Alobi, who dispatched a team of armed mobile policemen to the station's
premises. The media house also got policemen to guard the station's
outside broadcast crew at the premises of the National Assembly, also in
Abuja.
The chairman of the organization, Raymond Dokpesi, also said he had been
receiving telephone calls threatening him and the station over the
continued live broadcast of the debates on constitutional amendments at
the National Assembly.
According to him, men suspected to be security operatives visited the
offices of Daar Communications again on 15 May insisting that the station
should discontinue its broadcast of the documentary while also ordering
the AIT to stop live coverage of the debates at the National Assembly.
But Dokpesi said the station would not discontinue the live broadcast.
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