Group cautions against media censorship
The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought (ASSPT) has cautioned against any attempt to suppress or censor the media in any form in Nigeria.
The Director of the School, Dr Sam Amadi stated this at a press conference on Monday in Abuja in reaction to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) warning letter to Arise News Television.
Amadi who said that the essence of democracy is free speech and independence of the media, added that
the media had played key role in the democratic process of the country, right from the Colonia era.
He said that the country has more to gain by allowing free media than to sensor the industry.
“So it is better for a country like Nigeria to allow the media, the space.
“The answer to a bad opinion is a good one. The answer to a false opinion is the correct one.
“Everybody has opportunity to go to the court so seek remedies if they suffer damages.
“Nothing stop the president or any person who have been libeled, damaged injured unlawfully from seeking remedies against the person
“Of course, the media can ultimately be regulate it, but those regulations have to deal with clear national interests.
“There’s no national interest in freezing speech against any person, including the president,” Amadi said
He said that while everyone is expected to be civil while discussing an opinion on the media, there’s no constitutional or legal ground that the media should be sanctioned for expression of opinion considered to be uncivil or disrespectful.
Amadi, said it was however, within the legal right of anyone or institution who think he had suffered any damage or injury as a result of such expression to seek remedy in the court of law.
He said the concern of the school was not about the media been warned by NBC but the effect on the Nigeria democracy .
The Media Scholar and Research Fellow of ASSPT, Mr Paul Obi said that the school considered the NBC action as an attempt to sensor the media or abrogate the Nigerian 1999 Constitution which freely bestowed freedom of expression to Nigerian citizens and media organisations.
Obi said that the warning was unconstitutional and not known to the Nigerian laws and statutes within the media ecosystem.
“Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution clearly spelt out that “the press radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.
“Section 39, Subsection 1 stressed that, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”
He said that when Nigeria chose the pathway to democracy and subsequently abided by the canons of democracy all through the years, the country unequivocally pledged to adhere to the basic principles of democracy.
These according to Obi include freedom, media rights, freedom of expression, free speech, civil and fundamental human rights.
“At the very core of those rights – that are constitutionally bequeathed to and bestowed on the media, media organisations and journalists alike in Section 22 and Section 39 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution is the level of freedom that is allowed to flourish.
“Various democratic principles envisaged these rights of the media as indispensable canons of democracy.
“Nigeria, from time immemorial is not an exception, and has never been,” Obi said
He said that the as a school, involved in furthering the frontiers of democracy, ASSPT considered the issue of media censorship as very critical and as an ominous danger to Nigerian democracy.
“So, this is not the first time we are intervening in such critical matters, we have through our robust scholarship and research, pursued these topics and issues rigorously.
“This has even led us to publishing a remarkable and well researched work, titled, Media and Nigeria’s Constitutional Democracy: Civic Space, Free Speech, and the Battle for Freedom of the Press.
This was published by Lexington Books, an Imprint of Rowman and Littlefield in the United States,” he said.