A human rights activist, Comrade Paul Ikechukwu Njoku, has berated the federal government over threats against some media outfits who recently released detailed documentaries on banditry.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had on Thursday said the government would punish the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Trust TV, over what it described as an unprofessional airing of different documentaries that glorified terrorists and capable of fuelling terrorism in Nigeria.
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The minister said the Federal Government had taken note of ‘’the unprofessional documentary by the BBC, Africa Eye, where interviews were granted to bandit warlords and terror gangs, thereby promoting terror in the country’’.
But Njoku on Friday in Abuja described Mohammed as an incompetent Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is serving in a disastrous government causing damages in the lives and property of Nigerians.
According to him, the threats by the present government was an attempt to transfer its failures and aggression to the innocent press.
“He (minister) has unfortunately taken to his usual shameful vituperations and intimidation of the media by attempting to teach the BBC, African Eye and Daily Trust media their ethical job.
“It is unacceptably sad that Mohammed relishes gagging the media and incessantly transferring his failures and aggression to the innocent press.
“I, therefore, urge him to take the battle to the murderous terrorists and bandits than ceaselessly stifling the media same way he did during the #EndSars 2020 protest,” he said.
He said the Federal Government should rather protect and appreciate the BBC and Daily Trust for their courageous documentaries on bandit terror warlords.
He said, “Mohammed should be aware that even International Humanitarian Law protects journalists in armed – conflict situation.
“Is the Federal Government saying that journalists should not do their job again? Why is the government sad over the documentaries? Are they hiding something we do not know?
“The Buhari government should be told that Article 79 of the API to Geneva Conventions (GC) provides that “Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians” and “be protected as such” under IHL”
