By Emeka Alex Duru
It was not for nothing that Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, paid glowing tributes to journalists in his book, Witness to justice; an insider’s account of Nigeria’s truth commission. Following the military coup by the then General Muhammadu Buhari and his group on December 31, 1983, the country was taken through a tortuous path of military regime for the next 16 years that witnessed other despots as Ibrahim Babangida (1985 – 1993), Sani Abacha (1993 – 1998) and Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998 – 1999). While their administrations lasted, Nigerians bore the brunt. While other sections of the country put up feeble resistance to the military men, media men and women literally bared their chests, demanding the return to democratic rule. In the process, many of the practitioners suffered various degrees of intimidation and imprisonment. Some even paid the supreme sacrifice, while some media organisations were proscribed. It was in appreciation of the heroic role by the media, that Kukah paid compliments to the practitioners. He said; “The media more than any other organisation had resisted military rule and they had paid the price as individuals and institutions”.
Media assists APC to power
The efforts by the members of the pen profession eventually paid off with the return of democracy in 1999. The current President Buhari administration, is also a beneficiary of those struggles by the media. In fact, while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), struggled for recognition at its early stage in 2014, it relied heavily on the media for projection. Then, with enormous publicity in the traditional and new media, the party had been put forward as better alternative to the fumbling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The projection and promotion paid off in the 2015 general elections, when the APC rose from opposition to dislodge the ruling party – the first of its kind in the country’s history. The party had its way back in 2019 elections.
Government battles the media
But few months into the second term of the Buhari administration, the romance between it and the media, seems to be over. If anything, the government has bared its fangs in a move that many fear, signals a gradual agenda at crippling the media. On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 a Bill to Establish a Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches found its way back in the Senate. The Bill titled, “National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (Est, etc) Bill, 2019(SB.154) and sponsored by the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger North), was read the first time at Plenary.
A similar Bill had been sponsored last year March by the Senator which stated that any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction.
Though the bill died on arrival, the Senator has reintroduced the same Bill. The bill noted that: “A person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and/or visual, which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, commits an offence, if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up against any person or person from such an ethnic group in Nigeria.”
Nigerians cry out
Many reactions have trailed the Bill. A Senior Lecturer in the School of Mass Communication, Lagos State University, saw the bill as a surreptitious attempt to seize the media. “I am see a red flag on the way. This is a sure move to seize the media. Something is wrong somewhere”, he feared. John Ikaya of Gender Care Initiative, Lagos based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), interprets the bill as a gradual attempt at muzzling the press. His questions are; “who interprets what constitutes hate speech? What actually constitutes hate speech? At which point does it constitute hate speech – when it is against or in favour of the government?” He adds that constituting a so-called commission on the matter, shows its true mission. For him, with the courts around, there is nothing preventing the government, group or individual from seeking redress in the event of any perceived malfeasance by any journalist or media organisation, adding that any other move by the government, is akin to shadow boxing. Efforts by our Correspondent to get the reactions of the National Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Usman Leman on the matter, did not yield results as his phones were not accessible.
Signs of the impending onslaught on the media began to emerge when last July, the Information Minister, raised alarm on the growing level of fake news and hate speech in the country, which he said, constituted threat to the national security.
The insinuation was followed by his announcement on Thursday October 10, that online news platforms will now be regulated. The Minister dropped the bombshell as he inaugurated a seven-man committee to implement reforms in the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
He added that the President Buhari has approved the upward review of fines from N500,000 to N5 million for hate speech offences in the country.
Return to autocracy?
With the latest move by the Senate, the government may have drawn the battle line on the issue. This would amount to a gradual return to the days when media men were haunted by the government. The trend was more with military governments. The Olusegun Obasanjo government (1976-1979) blazed the trail of repression by taking control of radio and television stations, making it an offence to publish information which it considered embarrassing to the government or a public officer. In enforcing the measure, the administration banned the Newbreedmagazine published by the late Chris Okoli for two years. The repression got worse under Buhari (1984-1985), with the promulgation of Decrees 2 and 4, in 1984, making it possible to imprison without trial any journalist who published information ‘threatening national security’ or simply making fun of a civil servant. Two Guardian journalists, Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson, who had written a story about diplomatic postings were the first victims of the Decree.
When General Babangida took over in August 1985 he repealed Decree 4 (but not Decree 2, which his government continued to use indiscriminately) and by freeing political prisoners. His liberal image was soon tarnished by the dramatic Dele Giwa affair.
On 17 October 1986, Giwa, the Editor of Newswatch Magazine, was invited by the State Security Service (SSS). Two days later a parcel bomb with an official stamp was delivered to his home. The bomb exploded as he tried to open the envelope and he died a few hours later. Despite the efforts of human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, the killers were never brought to book.
The succeeding Sani Abacha regime was more draconian in its relationship with the media. Some of its victims were Chris Anyanwu (ofThe Sunday Magazine (TSM), Ben Charles Obi (Insider Magazine), Kunle Ajibade (TheNews Magazine), who suffered various forms of humiliation and terms of imprisonment, often on trumped up charges. Media houses were also proscribed within the period. These includedThe Guardian, The Punch, and National Concord.
The return of democracy in 1999, witnessed relative freedom to the press. But with the new move by the government, the press may be in for rough deal in the days ahead.
