…says gagging Nigerian media inimical to democratic tenets

By Gabriel Ewepu

THE Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, Friday, condemned alleged clampdown on ‘Idon Mikiya’, an Hausa programme, aired by an Abuja based radio station, Vision FM, by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC.

This was contained in statement signed by the Executive Director, CISLAC, Comrade Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, while pointing at the alleged ruthlessness of NBC on broadcast stations in the country.

According to Rafsanjani, the alleged suspension was on the heels of Vision FM allegedly discussing issues about a national security agency.

The statement reads in part, “We call on the administration to urgently lift the suspension and uphold the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and relevant international obligations which talk about freedom of the press and the right of the media to hold the government accountable to the people.

READ ALSO: Nigeria needs urgent measures to address high fertility rate — Buhari

“The rush to impose monetary fines and suspension of broadcast stations by the NBC exposes the government’s illicit desire to gag the press, block free speech and turn Nigeria into a Police State.

“The NBC is to rescind this needless clampdown and handle its regulatory role more professionally and with a lot of restraint.”

However, being the Head of Transparency International, Nigeria and Chairman Board of Amnesty International, Nigeria, he (Rafsanjani) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the NBC to order, saying that level of intolerance and impunity is getting out of hands and it has no place in a democracy.

He also added that the Buhari-led administration’s emergence was as a result of press freedom and the vibrancy of the civil society in creating a safe civil space.

According to him, it is unpatriotic for today’s political actors to seek to destroy the ladder they climbed to power.

VANGUARD NEWS NIGERIA