Fayose: I warned Nigerian’s that under Buhari, we are returning to 1984.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has condemned the expulsion of State House Correspondent, Olalekan Adetayo, from the Presidential Villa, Abuja saying it a “sign of what is to come from a dictatorial government that desires that the media must only tell Nigerians what it wants them to hear and nothing more.”
Fayose noted that he warned Nigerians of the emerging dictatorship of the President Muhammadu Buhari led All Progressives Congress (APC) government pointing out that, “Even though the Punch Correspondent was recalled yesterday, owing to public outcry, the dangerous message of intolerance to freedom of expression and of the press was passed
loud and clear.”
loud and clear.”
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose said it should worry all lovers of democracy and free press that a journalist, who was only doing his job was subjected to humiliating treatment of writing statement by the Chief Security Officer to the President, Bashir Abubakar, before he was escorted out of the Presidential Villa like a common criminal.
“When they invaded the Akwa Ibom State Government House with armed men of the Department of State Security (DSS), I raised alarm then and I did warn that Nigeria was being returned to 1984 when President Buhari ruled the country like a maximum ruler.
“When I said Nigerians irrespective of their political parties should rise in condemnation of the President Buhari’s government emerging dictatorship, many of our friends in the media opted to keep silent.
“Some even hailed the Department of State Security (DSS) when the service invaded the Ekiti State House of Assembly and abducted a member of the House.”
“I warned then that no one will be spared by the time this Buhari’s emerging dictatorship reached its peak.
“I did say then that by the time they are through with politicians, they will move to the judiciary and then to the media.
“Now the tyranny has gotten to the media and it will only take fervent prayers from men of the media profession for the country not to descend to that era of closure of media houses, arrest and indefinite detention of journalists.”
He charged journalists in the country to rise in one voice and protect the democratic rights of freedom of expression.
Fayose added, “As at today, no one knows how many Nigerians are languishing in detention in APC controlled states for freely expressing their opinions and the media must not close its eyes to this infringement on the rights of Nigerians to freedom of information.” END
The Punch speaks!
Aso Villa Expulsion: Our Stand
On Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar, conducted a bizarre, one-sided summary trial in his office.
Abubakar was the complainant, prosecutor and the judge. The defendants were The PUNCH and its State House Correspondent, Olalekan Adetayo, whom Abubakar accused of writing a ‘sponsored story’ and penning an ill-motivated opinion article on the President’s health.
It was in vain that Adetayo tried to explain to the CSO that the said story, Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s poor health, and his column, Seat of power’s event centers going into extinction, were done in the ordinary course of his duties, and without any ulterior motive.
Thereafter, events took a strange turn. The CSO left the dock where he was the complainant, donned the wig of a prosecutor and leveled more false allegations against our reporter. Then he quickly adorned himself in the robe of a judge and pronounced, with misguided magisterial flair, that our reporter should be thrown out of the Villa.
Abubakar’s judgment was then enforced by one of his minions who seized our reporter’s State House pass marched him to the gate of the Villa and paraded him before a platoon of security operatives who were ordered to bar him from entering the Villa in the future.
Abubakar’s harassment and humiliation of our reporter are unwarranted, unjustified and, therefore, condemnable. His reckless display of power is an abuse of his office and an affront to our newspaper.
This sordid event would have been comical if not for its tragic implications for our democracy, the freedom of the press and the inalienable right of every Nigerian citizen to the freedom of expression.
As our paper went to bed last night, we were made aware of the efforts of saner and less-emotive heads within the presidency to convene a parley to resolve the issue.
We are happy to inform the authorities that our reporter will neither attend the meeting planned for today nor subject himself to yet another Kangaroo trial.
We hold that besides presidential introspection, what this situation requires is not a soft landing for a security operative who acted beyond his brief. What Abubakar deserves is a stinging reprimand from his superiors, heavy censure from his principal and the outrage of all right thinking members of the society.
We are aware that, only recently, Abubakar usurped some of the functions of the President’s battery of media aides and convened a meeting where he sought to teach State House correspondents how to slant, spin and scribble stories on the President and the Presidency.
Our demands are simple: a full and unqualified apology from Abubakar and the presidency, and the unconditional restoration of the reportorial access and privileges withdrawn from our reporter. The apology should be addressed to our reporter and our newspaper.
In this dispensation, vindictive and overbearing security operatives, like Abubakar, ought to bear three things in mind as they carry out their duties. One, Nigeria is a democracy, the martial antecedents of its current president notwithstanding. Two, those who hold positions of authority do so at the pleasure of the public. Three, public servants, no matter how influential, are mere tenants in the corridors of power.
END
