The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has condemned the shutting down of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) website through the backdoor by Wale Ayilara’s Landwey on February 23, 2023.
According to a press statement by the Foundation, the suspension of their website was done by the cloud service provider, DigitalOcean. It was later observed that it was due to an allegation of copyright infringement lodged by the people acting on behalf of Landwey.
This alleged copyright infringement is based on a story by the FIJ on the failure of Wale Ayilara’s Landwey, a real estate investment company to hand over the property to a UAE- based Nigerian despite receiving payment of N42 million from him.
It is shameful that a private individual through the corridors of power (who are supposed to protect the cause for press freedom) can easily manipulate their way into gagging the press.
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The coalition condemns this action by Mr Wale Ayilara’s Landwey and most especially Digital Ocean for suspending the FIJ’s domain without due process. This is a gross violation of press freedom and the citizen’s right to know.
The group, therefore, calls on the federal government to investigate this issue, especially the activities and actions of DigitalOcean and bring the FIJ’s domain back online.
At a crucial period like this (election) when citizens rely on these platforms for information, shutting down a news website domain should be the last resort for any perpetrator at this time.
