NewsWatch Cameroon--Below is a letter from the Committee to Protect
Journalists, CPJ to the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari
June 3, 2015
President Muhammadu Buhari
State House, Abuja
Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
C/O:
Senior Special Assistant to the President
Special Adviser to the President
Via email
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to
congratulate you on your recent victory in Nigeria's presidential election. As
Nigeria prepares to enter a new chapter in its history, we urge you and your
administration to take steps to ensure that journalists are able to work freely
and openly in the country without fear of reprisal of any form.
In your inaugural speech on May 29, you identified
insecurity and pervasive corruption in Nigeria to be among your immediate
concerns. You also recognized the country's "vibrant" press and
appealed to the media to exercise "its considerable powers with
responsibility and patriotism." It is our belief that a patriotic press is
also a critical press. To achieve your objective in tackling the challenges
Nigeria faces, it is vital that your government prioritize press freedom so
that journalists may ask questions and expose corruption at all levels of
society without fear of harassment or intimidation. Nigerians and the world
must be left without any suspicion or uncertainty about the transparency of
your government.
As Nigeria aspires to strengthen its democracy, your
government must show that it can tackle Nigeria's challenges, including the
fight against the Boko Haram insurgency and the use of terror tactics, but can
do so without compromising democratic principles, whose core elements include
press freedom and freedom of expression. The success of the democratic
government you now lead will depend largely on the guarantee that journalists
are free to inform the society about their commonwealth.
We welcome your public assurances that you will not
allow authorities to abuse the trust of the Nigerian people. We are encouraged
by your promise to take disciplinary steps against security forces who commit
human rights violations, but there is a long way to go.
Security forces are the most frequent perpetrators of
violations against the press, according to the Lagos-based International Press
Centre, which found that Nigerian police and security forces were responsible
for 24 of at least 32 cases of attacks on journalists between November 2014 and
February this year. No one has been brought to justice, the IPC said. CPJ has
also documented other physical attacks, threats, and intimidation of local and
international journalists seeking to cover the news.
In a weeklong siege in June 2014, soldiers and agents
of the Nigerian State Security Service disrupted the operations of nearly a
dozen independent newspapers under the guise of fighting terrorism, according
to CPJ research. Federal troops across the country seized and destroyed
newspaper deliveries, confiscated editions, and took over media vehicles. No
public apology was forthcoming, nor any compensation given for the loss in
newspaper sales incurred by news organizations, distributors, transporters,
vendors, advertisers, and other stakeholders.
CPJ has also documented a worrisome number of
work-related murders of journalists in Nigeria. Since 1992, at least 10
Nigerian journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work, while
another nine journalists have been killed under unclear circumstances, CPJ
research shows. The country is second only to Somalia in terms of Africa's
worst record of unpunished murders of journalists. In 2014, Nigeria ranked 12th
on CPJ's Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain
and their killers go free. President Goodluck Jonathan's government showed no
resolve in finding the killers of these journalists, but we ask that you make
this a priority of your administration.
Nigeria retains outdated laws on criminal defamation,
publishing false information, and sedition, which authorities have used to
persecute journalists for their reporting. In 2010, the African Commission on
Human and People's Rights called on member states to repeal criminal defamation
laws or insult laws, which impede freedom of speech, and to adhere to the
provisions of freedom of expression articulated in the African Charter and other
regional and international instruments. In a landmark ruling in December 2014,
the African Court on Human and People's Rights found that prison sentences for
criminal defamation were disproportionate and should be used only in restricted
circumstances.
Still, despite growing international consensus that
journalists should never face criminal charges for their professional work,
Nigerian authorities continue to persecute the media. In December, two
journalists with the Abuja-based National Waves magazine were arrested and
charged two months later with criminal defamation, according to news reports.
They had published a report in the magazine that alleged fraudulent dealings
between an oil magnate and the Bauchi State government, news reports said.
CPJ, an independent nonprofit organization that
promotes press freedom worldwide, believes that the use of criminal laws
against journalists for reporting news or opinion is wrong and has a deeply
chilling effect on the press as a whole. Journalists are critics--not
criminals.
On March 17, before the elections, you told the
Nigerian Press Organisation in Abuja that if you won the presidency, "the
Nigerian media will be free under our [All Progressives Congress]
government." You also told the journalists, "The health of Nigeria's
democracy rests partly on you. Without a robust and thriving media, the masses
would have no voice."
We, too, believe that a society cannot thrive without
a free and open press. This is why we are dismayed that on May 29, the day
commemorating Nigeria's democracy and coinciding with your inauguration and
that of Nigerian state governors, Joseph Hir, a journalist with the independent
Daily Trust, was viciously attacked, allegedly by supporters of the Nassarawa
State governor, a member of your political party, who stood a short distance
away taking his oath of office, according to news reports. Hir told CPJ the
attack followed repeated threats he had received over a recent story he wrote
that questioned the political relevance of Nassarawa State in the national
affairs of your political party, the All Progressives Congress.
Mr. President, we are aware of the significant
challenges your administration faces, which are problems not of your making but
which you are now required to solve. The peaceful transition of power in
Nigeria has generated unprecedented good will and support, and we join those
many voices in wishing you well.
As you assume the responsibilities of your office, we
ask that you place press freedom at the top of your agenda and follow your
pledge to address media freedom with meaningful action. We respectfully urge
you to demonstrate your commitment to freedom of the press by working toward
the repeal of all laws that criminalize defamation in Nigeria. We also ask that
your administration prosecute the killers of journalists and that you ensure
that police and security forces refrain from carrying out attacks, detentions,
or intimidation of the press and that those who do face the full consequences
of the law.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We
look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
CPJ Executive Director
CC List:
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant, President
Muhammadu Buhari
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser, President Muhammadu
Buhari
Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary, All
Progressives Congress
Pansy Tlakula, African Union Special Rapporteur on
Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
David Kaye, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General
Source; CPJ Website
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