A Violent Assault on Nigerian Press Freedom
Nigeria is considered to be one of Africa's most dangerous countries for journalists. The country has become a hub of free speech suppression under the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. There have been numerous attempts by the Nigerian government, both direct and indirect, to censor the media from reporting on the true situation within the country.
Media intimidation
The National Broadcasting Commission issued an order in Nigeria, which demanded that media outlets downplay the growing threat of terrorism and organized crime in Nigeria. The Nigerian government further intimidated the media by fining media outlets that covered the county’s protests at the end of last year. And there is more: the government issued a law requesting all social media platforms, as well as broadcasting services, to apply for a broadcast license. The government holds the executive power to deny licenses to media companies that they disapprove of through the National Broadcasting Commission, thereby limiting which media outlets will be able to report.
President Buhari of Nigeria has made no secret his intention to silence everyone who opposes his interests. The Nigerian president banned Twitter from the country several months ago after the social media company deleted one of his tweets in which he incited violence against supporters of an anti-government movement. President Buhari then publicly endorsed the Indian social media company "Koo," a rival to Twitter. The government also issued a warning to citizens and media organizations violating Twitter's ban, warning that they might be prosecuted and arrested.
Members of the media are being killed.
Last June, the murder of Titus Badejo, a Nigerian journalist and radio presenter working for Naija FM in Nigeria, cast a dark shadow on the future of press freedom in the country. While leaving a club, Bedejo and his friends were dragged out of their car. The killers then shot him dead.
As part of the intimidation against the journalism community in Nigeria, a local police officer threatened Daily Nigeria news publisher Jaafar Jaafar in April with prosecution due to allegations of bribery against the state’s governor.
Since the beginning of the year, many journalists have been intimidated, arrested, beaten, and assaulted in Nigeria. Grace FM's editor in a local Nigerian state was beaten after reporting on the narcotic business in the country in April. Sunday Ode, a correspondent with the Abuja-based People's Daily newspaper, was arrested following his critique of the state’s governor. BBC reporter Peter Nkanga in Abuja, Nigeria's capital and eighth-most populous city, received multiple death threats after releasing a documentary that covered hidden violence. In June, government officials assaulted the chief correspondent with Punch Nigeria newspapers, Friday Olokor.
Over the past six years of President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure, press freedom has been brutally attacked. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) published a report on June 30 on the state of press freedom in Nigeria, noting that over 3,000 violations have been recorded since President Buhari took office, including seven murders.
Sadly this situation does not appear to be improving as time continues.
