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vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews
Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2019 — 5
POCKET CARTOON
NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY ORDER OF MERIT AWARD —From left: Chairman, Honeywell Group,
Mr. Oba Otudeko; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige; SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapher;
Chairman, Heirs Holdings Limited, Mr, Tony Elumelu; President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote
and Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, during the 18th National Productivity
Day Celebration and Conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit Award at the NAF Conference
Centre, Kado, Abuja. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.
CAN, Editors, others rally against hate
speech bill
By Clifford Ndujihe
& Sam Eyoboka
L groundswell
AGOS—The
of
opposition against
the hate speech bill before
the National Assembly was
taken several notches
higher, yesterday, by
editors in Nigeria, the
Christian Association of
Nigeria, CAN, and a
serving senator, Akon
Eyakenyi, who vowed to
“strongly” resist it.
Insisting that the bill will
undermine the freedom of
citizens and hurt
democracy, those opposed
to it argued that there are
adequate laws within the
body of Nigeria’s statutes
to curb hate speech.
Sponsor of the bill,
Senator Sabi Abdullahi,
however, disagreed with
this argument, countering
that defamation laws are
inadequate to tackle hate
speech.
Editors restate
opposition to fake
news, hate speech
Indeed, newspaper,
radio, online and television
editors, under the aegis of
the Nigerian Guild of
Editors, NGE, expressed
their opposition to anti-fake
news and hate speech bill.
Acting President of the
Guild, Mustapha Isah,
stated the group’s position
in Sokoto at the opening of
the 15th All Nigeria Editors’
Conference, ANEC.
“The Nigerian Guild of
Editors is not in support
and will never support fake
news and hate speech. Our
members are trained
professionally. It is true that
the social media space, like
any other ecosystem, is
being abused by some
people,” he said.
He said the Guild is not
in support of any move to
“surreptitiously” curtail
press freedom and advised
government to work with
critical stakeholders in the
media industry to address
the challenges relating to
fake news and hate speech.
He said the Guild chose
the 2019 theme of the
conference, “A Distressed
Media: Impact on
Government, Governance
and Society,” with a view
to focusing on the media as
a business.
Isah added that the
theme was also meant “to
focus on Nigeria and the
sustenance of our
democracy because without
a robust media, democracy
suffers.”
He said current economic
challenges had affected the
business of journalism,
warning that practitioners
must survive first to perform
their constitutional
responsibility of holding
government accountable to
the people.
“The constitution gives
the media an enormous
responsibility of holding
governments accountable
to the people without
providing for us the
economic and the
constitutional protection to
do our duty.
“The media is passing
through a tough phase. We
are going to survive and we
must survive. We will find
solutions to our problems,”
he said.
According to him, the
Nigerian media has a rich
history, having been in the
forefront of the fight against
colonialism and the
struggle for democracy.
Isah also commended
Gov.ernor Aminu
Tambuwal of Sokoto State
for his consistent show of
friendship to the media and
the guild in particular.
Isah’s comments were
later enriched by Mr.
Gbenga Adefaye, Editorin-Chief
and General
Manager of Vanguard
Newspapers; and Mr.
Gbemiga Ogunleye,
Provost, Nigeria Institute of
Journalism, NIJ, Lagos.
Media under
threat, says Adefaye
In a nine-page keynote
speech, titled: “Fighting
The Throes of Death,”
Adefaye argued that the
media, especially the print,
are under serious threat in
Nigeria and efforts must be
made to keep the media
afloat in the interest of the
citizenry and democracy.
Apart from shrinking
revenue from advert and
copy sales, Adefaye
regretted that media
freedom and security of
journalists were headed
south, noting that in 2019,
no fewer than 60 journalists
“have experienced some
form of attacks or the other
from state actors and
several civil society
institutions have been
subjects of similar attacks,
ranging from shutdowns to
withdrawal of operating
licenses and outright
decommissioning.”
He said: “To compound
the woes of the media,
profitability which is key to
vibrancy, freedom and
independence is poor
because of decline in
advertising revenue. The
global village is real and
virtual. However, the virtual
Village Square meeting
can define and refine own
rules of engagement, using
the Google key.
“Then we can defend free
speech with responsibility.
We must build capacity and
bring our credibility to bear
on the use of new media to
probably crowd out the
unprofessional, unskilled,
dangerous social media
engagement.
“We are in a democracy,
where there is no other
choice than constitutional
order. It is only a strong,
free and independent
media that can check
inefficiency, corruption and
lack of accountability of
state actors.
“The media must
collaborate and cooperate to
survive. That’s the lead
from the marketplace. The
experience from history tells
me that the current travails
notwithstanding, we will
survive to tell the stories
Continues on Page 41
On refusal of DSS to release Sowore, Bakare
By Bose Adelaja &
Olayinka Latona
The
continued
detention of Sowore
and Bakare despite meeting
the bail conditions clearly
shows that our judiciary
system is not independent.
The action of the DSS is
totally unconstitutional and
means we are still practicing
Militocracy. I will want the
judiciary to redeem their
image by doing what it is
right if actually they are the
last hope of common man.
—Mr. Ogunleye Femi,
Researcher
This is outrageous and
we all should not
keep quiet over this issue.
It is so unlawful for the
DSS to still detain Sowore
and Bakare despite the
fact that they have met
with their bail condition.
It is time Nigerians to join
the campaign for their
release. The truth will
surely prevail, that I am
sure of. So I say
#freesowore #freebakare
and let the truth set this
country free.
—Ayo Afolabi.
Mediaprenuer
The court has given
order for the release
of Omoyele Sowore but the
Department of State
Services (DSS) still held
on to the fact that they
won’t let go of him
because they are yet to
receive a copy of the court
order granting him
(Sowore) bail. I believe no
one in his right state of
mind will go against court
order except the necessary
documents get to the DSS.
—Olayemi Wonder,
Analyst
Honestly,
the
d i m e n s i o n
Sowore’s case is taking is
not good for Nigeria’s
image. Due to their
continuous detention, there
are strong fears the nation
is descending into the dark
days of undemocratic
system. Unless DSS want
to confirm these worries,
they can no longer detain
these people against court
orders. This is how to show
the world justice is alive.
— I b r a h e e m
Abdullateef, Writer
The
continuous
detention of Sowore
and Bakare is an affront to
our Democracy, utter
disrespect to the constitution
and contempt of court. It’s
really sad. It goes to prove
that we have a dictator at the
helms of affair in this country
and not a democratic
president. This is a further
dent on the already battered
image of this country.
: —Emma Asuquo,
Businessman
Gradually Nigeria is
tilting towards
autocratic rule and we are
overlooking the pointers.
The detention of Sowore
is one such pointers that
we over look. DSS has no
reason to continue the
detention of Sowore since
he already fulfilled bail
terms. It clear they have
other reasons unknown to
the public for keeping
him.
— P h i l o m e n a
Chinenyenwa.
Researcher