NIGERIA MEDIA MONITOR
#03-26 Monday, 6 July, 1998
* 3 Journalists assaulted * TRIBUNE EDITOR ACQUITTED * DETAINED JOURNALISTS' WIVES PLEAD FOR HUSBANDS' RELEASE * NEW DEMOCRATIC RADIO STATION DEBUTED * TIMES EDITOR PASSED ON * PRIVATE ENTRY INTO TELECOMS SECTOR SLOWS * SET OUR HUSBANDS FREE NEWSREEL 3 Journalists assaulted Two journalists, Oladipo Adelowo and Modupe Olubanjo, and a photojournalist, Alaba Igbaroola of the Tribune On Saturday were assaulted on 20 June, 1998 by the aides of an Ibadan based politician, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu. The journalists had gone to Adedibu's house to seek an exclusive interview with him on the current political situation in the country. Irked by the questions being fielded by the journalists which the aides considered unpleasant, the journalists were assaulted, verbally abused and their midget, being used for the interview, snatched. The miniature cassette in the midget was removed. The politician advised the journalists to "forget (about) that cassette, I will give you money. How much does your cassettes cost, I will give you." But the journalists replied, "No it is not the money that matters now, but the cassette which is very important in order for people to hear your views as you stated them." Disturbed by the stance of the journalists, the politician's aides chased the team out of the house warning them not to dare publish any story about the incident. TRIBUNE EDITOR ACQUITED The Sunday Tribune editor, Femi Adeoti who was standing trial for allegedly taking part in the 1 May, 1998 riot in Ibadan, Oyo State was discharged and acquitted 24 June, 1988 by Chief Magistrate Waheed Olaifa of the Iyanganku Chief Magistrate's court, Ibadan. Adeoti and 31 others charged with him were acquitted on the basis of legal advice from the State Ministry of Justice that they have no case to answer. It will be recalled that Femi Adeoti, editor of Sunday Tribune, was arrested 6 May, 1998 by agents of the state security services (SSS). He was subsequently charged to court on 3 charges of conspiracy to riot, rioting, arson and seditious publication, based on the headline of Sunday Tribune of 3 May 1998 entitled "Genesis of Ibadan Bloodbath" which the SSS agents considered seditious and capable of causing fear in the public. He was arraigned on 18 May, 1998 before the Ibadan Chief Magistrate Court who ordered that Adeoti and others be remanded in prison custody. He was released on bail on 4 June, 1998. Detained journalists' wives plead for husbands' release Wives of detained and jailed journalists pleaded 29 June,1988, with the Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar to set them free. At a joint press conference in Lagos, the women said the continued detention of their husbands was "destructive of their health and general well-being." "It is not controversial to say that the continued incarceration of any of them is an index of how sad our country remains; their travails, indeed, all that they suffer, injures popular perception of the humanness that the government has sought so far to demonstrate." They called for the immediate release of all detainees and political prisoners en mass "instead of this condescending" approach of piecemeal release, stressing that "this is the only way in which the whole world will believe that the new government is serious about reconciliation." They said: "Some of the journalists have been presumed missing because no one, not even the police, to whom several reports and appeals have been made, can vouchsafe their whereabouts. Three of them, Kunle Ajibade, Ben-Charles Obi and George Mbah, were jailed as accessories after the fact of what most Nigerians refer to as the phantom coup of 1995. They are being held for the same supposed crime that Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, Beko Ransome-Kuti and Chris Anyanwu who have just been released, were convicted. "The release of these worthy Nigerians, who should never have seen the inside of a prison cell, in the first place has been done on humanitarian grounds. It has raised a serious question of principle: As to whether the humanitarian grounds should not have covered the many innocent people left behind in jail? Besides, we think it ought to be an embarrassment to our justice system and to our sense of being a nation that even one individual who does not deserve it should be made to suffer one day longer in prison, whatever the reasons of security, or the personal gripe of any particular official, may prescribe or condone." Mrs. Ajibade, wife of TheNEWS jailed Kunle Ajibade who spoke for the wives also lamented what she called the primitive action against the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL), publishers of TheNEWS, TEMPO and P.M. News, by government. Five of the staff, according to her, are currently in detention, after the release of eight of them early this months. Also speaking at the briefing, the Chairman of the Lagos State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Lanre Arogundade deplored the conviction of Charles Obi, Ajibade, Mbah, Christiana Anyanwu and Malaolu for alleged offences relating to coup plotting. He said the statement by former Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo on the circumstances surrounding his conviction had vindicated the NUJ, pointing, out that it is wrong to jail journalists for coup plotting. Meanwhile, the family of the convicted Editor of Diet, Mr. Niran Malaolu, on 29 June,1998 marked his 38th birthday in absentia. Mr. Malaolu was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 28 this year by the Maj. Gen. Victor Malu led Special Military Tribunal (SMT). His wife, Bukola, told journalists that she was using the occasion to pray and fast as it was the first time since her marriage to Molaolu that he won't be around for his birthday. "Today, I would not be able to discuss with him those special things, reserved for a day like this, she said in shaky voice. Bukola again called for the release of her husband explaining that this incarceration had brought untold hardship to the family. "He is our breadwinner. There are younger sisters who depend on him. I'm a full-time housewife. I only go to school. I don't work, "she stressed. Bukola said that the older of her two children, four-year-old Obabi Olorunkosi, kept asking her when daddy would return home. Almost succumbing to emotion she stated: "After Abacha died, Oba came to me one morning and asked, 'Mummy is it possible for a dead man to hold my daddy'. This was because anytime he asked for his daddy, I would say he is with Abacha." Mrs. Malaolu appealed to Gen. Abubakar to release her husband. Though the mood in her house was sober, there was some cheer when NUJ officials and journalists present jointly sang with her a happy birthday song for Niran. New RADIO TRANSMISSION FREQUENCY debuted The political battle in the air waves may be heightened very soon with the claim by the Eastern Mandate Union (EMU) based abroad that it has secured a frequency for radio transmission to Nigeria. In a letter written by Prof. Edward Oparaoji, chairman, EMU, and sent to Ndigbo, in Europe and America, the pro-democracy group named the new station "Ogene Ndigbo" radio which it said would broadcast every Wednesday, on short wave 15,460 on 19 Meter band at 10.00 pm GMT. According to EMU, "Ogene radio broadcast" would, among other things, bring to the fore the issue of Igbo marginalisation in all facets of Nigerian government, lack of respect and protection for Igbos and their property in Nigeria. It said the station would also focus on the role of Igbo leaders in championing the Igbo cause:lack of or total neglect of infrastructure in Igbo land, the "abandoned" property issue, payment of reparation to Ndigbo for those killed and property lost during and after the Nigeria-Biafra War, restructuring the military and other socio-economic political issues. Giving reasons for the establishment of the station, the organisation argued that it would provide Ndigbo with alternative points of view to enable them make informed decision for themselves and the generation to come, saying that the people are constantly bombarded with misinformation through the existing government controlled media in Nigeria. The broadcast by the Ogene Ndigbo radio, EMU said, "due to sophisticated satellite technology, combined with the very powerful 250,000w transmitter, would be very clear from wherever you tune in." EMU's radio brings to two, the number of pirate radios transmitting to Nigeria from abroad in the pursuance of the current democratic struggle in the country. Prof. Wole Soyinka's Radio Kudirat began transmission two years ago.Government's threat to distrupt it's transmission could not be carried out because of what top government technocrats called the low level of the nations's technological development. DAILY TIMES EDITOR PASSED ON The Managing Editor of the Daily Times, Mr. Saliu Iluebe Aruna, is dead. He died in Lagos Friday 26 June,1998 at the age of 52, during a brief illness. Aruna, joined the Daily Times in 1979 as a senior sub-editor and became the chief sub-editor three year later. A diligent and painstaking journalist, Aruna received commendations at various times from the management for his industry and enterprise. He became production editor in 1984, night editor (1986), acting editor, Evening Times (1995) and Deputy General Manager (Editorial Services) in 1996. A 1978 graduate of Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria NSUKKA (UNN), Aruna was appointed Managing Editor in June, last year a position he held until his death. He has been buried at his home town, Iyuku, near Auchi, Edo state. Aruna is survived by a wife, children and a grandchild. PRIVATE ENTRY INTO TELECOMS SECTOR SLOWS But for budgetary pronouncements early in the year which enunciated new policy thrust to abrogate laws that inhibit competition in the telecommunications sector which in effect will lead to the privatistion of the Nigerian Telecommunictions Limited (NITEL) and the appointment of a Second Network Operator (SNO), not much was recorded in the first six months of this year in the sector. Essentially, besides the two private telephone operators (PTOs) which flagged off the offer of commercial services early December last year, no new entrants was recorded Multi-Links Telecommunications services began in December last year and Intercellular Nigeria Limited whose services began mid-February this year, have both had steady market share within the sector. But while there initially appeared to be some patronage, for these operators, NITEL brought its prices down to shore up it revenue and encourage subscribers patronage which they feared might be lost to competitors. Analysts are saying that the fees charged by the PTOs: Multi-Links, N167,000(S1964); and Inteercellular, N142,000(S1670) against NITEL's N50,000(S588) are too high and will`hardly help bridge the huge gap between those who have access to telephone and those who do not. Of particular interest to these analysts is that since Nigeria has an unenviable record of being the 49th least developed in telecommunications, according to the Internationl Communications Union (ITU) survey of 1996 and 1997 with telephone ratio of one telephone to 200 persons, contrary to ITU's prescribed minimum of one to 100 persons, something urgent must be done. Comparatively, even among African members of the ITU, Nigeria's position is still seen as unenviable. While deregulation and privatisation are said to be on course in South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d'lvoire, Gambia. Sierra Leone, among others, Nigeria's deregulatory process is still trying to find a major tempo principally because of what analysts call government control and lack of full autonomy. Privatisation which was pronounced for NITEL early in the year is still touch and go. Only recently, certain strides were attained, when a draft decree was sent to the presidency for enactment into law. Similarly, the process for appointment of a Second Network Operator (SNO) has been put on course. Government has equally gone ahead to name two consultants - FSB International Bank Plc and Informatics & General /Electrics Limited (IGE) - to work with the Nigerian Communication Commissions (NCC) as midwives for the new operator. The new operator to be appointed is to compete with NITEL for both local and international telecommunication servces. Essentially, the new carrier is: *required to install a million lines by the year 2005, *have its network interconnected to existing carrier and operators, *15 per cent of its installed capacity must be located in rural areas, and *its technical and operating standard must comply with NCC's technical specifications. The two consultants are to handle the financial and technical aspects to influence the appointment of the second carrier. The NCC's Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) which was sent to the Ministry of Communictions last year formed the fulcrum of the memorandum sent to the Vision 2010 Committee which informed the decision not only to privatise NITEL but also to avoid substituting a public monopoly with a private one. The vision, according to the chief executive of the NCC, Chief Ogbonna Iromantu is to: *Achieve one telephone per 50 persons by the year 2000; *attain instant connection to anywhere, anytime from any place in Nigeria; *provide a reliable data link for communication network; *Intensify on-going deregulation with a view to achieving privatisation by the end of this year; *provide improved billing systems for timely revenue collection by NITEL; *achieve a measure of local manufacturing in identified areas of core competency. But laudable as the programme are, they can only be achieved on long term basis, analysts reason. Although, spirited moves are on to actualise privatisation of NITEL and appoint a second carrier, fillers from the PTOs show that at least two operators signed various pacts with technical partners during the last six months to deploy their equipment to the Nigerian network. FEATURE Below is the text of the international press briefing issued during a press conference held in Lagos on 29 June, 1998 by the wives of detained journalists and media workers in Nigeria Set Our Husband Free by Wives of detained journalists and Media Workers With the emergence of General Abdusalam Abubakar as the new Head of State, hope has risen for many Nigerians. The release of nine political prisoners on June 15th 1998 and 17 others on 25 June 1998 have proved that the hope is not completely misplaced. This is why we, the wives of the detained but yet to be freed, have dared to believe that the cases of the many hundreds still languishing behind bars can be brought to the fore and the handled with despatch in order to round out the feeling of freedom that is gradually sweeping into our country. In particular, we are concerned about the journalists and media worker who are still being held behind bars in conditions that are rankly destructive of their health and general well-being. It is not controversial to say that the continued incarceration of any of them is an index of how sad our country remains: their travails, indeed, all that they suffer, injures popular perception of the humanness that the government has sought so far! ! to demonstrate. We are talking here of journalists belonging to various media. Those who appear to be safest are now in foreign lands, in exile having escaped from security assault on their freedom, sometimes with their wives and children taken as hostages. We would have hoped that they could now return home but the situation is still quite daunting. Some of the journalists have been presumed missing because no one, not even the police, to whom several reports and appeals have been made, can vouchsafe their whereabouts. Three of them Kunle Ajibade, Ben Charles Obi and George Mbah, were jailed as accessories after the fact of what most Nigerian refer to as the phantom coup of 1995. They are being held for the same supposed crime that General Olusegun Obasanjo, Beko Ransome-Kuti and Chris Anyanwu who have just been released, were convicted. The release of these worthy Nigerians, who should never have seen the inside of a prison cell, in the first place has been done on humanitarian grounds. It has raised a serious question of principle: as to whether the humanitarian grounds should not have covered the many innocent people left behind in jail? Besides, we think it ought to be an embarrassment to our justice system and to our sense of being a nation that even one individual who does not deserve it should be made to suffer o! ! ne day longer in prison, whatever the reason that the security of the nation, or the personal gripe of any particular official, may prescribe or condone. The purposes of this press conference are: 1. To demand the immediate release of all detainees and political prisoners en masse instead of this condescending approach of piecemeal releases. This is the only way in which the whole world will believe that the new government is serious about reconciliation. 2. To draw the attention of the world to what we consider to be a specific punitive marker against the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL) as an organisation. Our husbands, who remain detained, are workers of this organisation which in its five year existence has known no peace. As of a months ago, Thirteen (13) members of staff of ICNL were in detention. On 1st of June 1998, Eight (8) of them (all arrested on 20/4/98) were released. There are still five (5) of them in various detention cells all over the country. We crave your indulgence to highlight the specific cases of these five. KUNLE AJIBADE Kunle was arrested by the state security services officers (SSS) on 25 May, 1995. After interrogation on that day, he was released and asked to report back the following day. He did, unfortunately.He was handed over to officers of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). Kunle was kept in an abandoned DMI guardroom at Arakan barracks Apapa for several weeks and when during several interrogations, he could not tell them the source of The News cover story of 22 May, 1995 "NOT GUILTY", the military authorities decided to jail him. His so-called trial lasted 10 minutes. The same fate befell the three other journalists sentenced with him. He has been in Makurdi prison since then. As Uncle Bola Ige indicated after his release, Kunle has suffered deeply simply for being a journalist. BAGAUDA KALTHO Bagauda's case is a very disturbing one. He went on vacation in December 1995. He left his home town Biliri for Kaduna his base in January 1996. Because he had been posted to Abuja office just before going on vacation, he was shuttling between Kaduna and Abuja. This was why when no one saw him in the Kaduna office in January 1996, it took about two weeks before anyone noticed. The head office was contacted. His Bureau Chief, Mr. Timothy Bonnet first reported the case to the police in Kaduna and they promised to help. The company started publishing his photograph as a missing person. Two months later, Mr. Timothy Bonnet reported to the head office that his name had been sighted on a detention list in Abuja. He (Timothy) went to Abuja several times and worked closely with officials of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) to even know the exact location of his detention. They could not. To date, no one knows exactly where Bagauda is being held and the police have not come up w! ! ith any information whatsoever. The company, apart from publishing his picture many times, reported the matter to the Police in Kaduna, the NUJ in Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos and also to the Human rights commission. BABAFEMI OJUDU Femi was arrested at Seme Border on 17 November, 1997 while returning from a conference in Kenya. He was first taken to SSS office Shangisha, Lagos before being transferred to Awolowo road, Ikoyi, Lagos where he has been kept since then, in solitary confinement. On two occasions he collapsed and had to be taken to hospital. Recently, because it was feared that his health was failing, he was removed from solitary confinement and kept with two other detainees who have since been released. He is now back in solitary confinement but through these two persons, he was able to send a detailed message to the family. According to him, he was asked to name the source of his story on the Chagouri & Chagouri linkage with General Abacha. He was also asked to talk about TheNEWS' stories on General Abacha's health problems. He was asked to explain his (Femi's) trips to the U.S.A & Britain and the organisation (ICNL) was accused of being sponsored by the Americans. Femi suffers from acute insomnia, persistent headache, frequent urination, burns and pains which cause him to put his feet permanently in bucket of water. Recently when his feeding allowance was reduced from N50 to N20, he went on hunger strike. They simply ignored him. It will be recalled that recently, his name was on the list of those released, along with Soji Omotunde and Onome Osifo-Whiskey. Femi's name was on that list, and The Guardian and New Nigerian newspapers announced this. The SSS in Lagos was prepared to release him but this was scuttled on the intervention of Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP) Zakri Biu who said he was carrying an investigation on ICNL (That was when 8 staffers of ICNL were still being held at FIIB Alagbon). Our believe is that ACP Biu has completely forgotten that Femi is still in detention. So he remains in detention because the police and SSS are yet to perfect their communications. ADETOKUNBO FAKEYE Tokunbo was picked up at the defence Headquarter on 4 November, 1997. He, being the group's defence correspondent had gone there for the normal weekly briefing. Simply the DMI wanted Bayo Onanuga but Tokunbo joined the organisation only last year and could not have known how to get Bayo Onanuga. They picked him as hostage. Since then Tokunbo has been at 2 Park Lane Apapa, Lagos. He is very sick young man. In fact for several weeks, he had to be attending the Military Hospital in Yaba, and when his case worsened, he had to be rushed to a private specialist hospital in Moleye Street Yaba, Lagos. Now he is to undergo an operation for sinusitis. Meanwhile Captain Hassan who interrogated him had in January 1998 recommended his release but the commanding officer Colonel Frank Omenka has to signed his release. Since January 1998. RAFIU SALAU Rafiu is the Administrative Manager of ICNL. On 18 November, 1997 he went to DMI, No 2 Park Lane Apapa, Lagos in the company of Tokunbo's wife to enquire about his welfare. He was simply arrested and locked up. Todate he has not been asked a single question and cannot tell why he is being detained. However, just like Tokunbo, his release had been recommended by Captain Hassan since January but Colonel Frank Omenka is yet to review his file. We are certain that all other detainees have equally terrible stories to tell. The assault on the freedom of journalists and pro-democracy activists confronts us, as wives and as family with anger that is saved from helplessness only by the stout supportive concern by all media houses, human rights groups and the goodwill of the ordinary people of this country. We do not feel helpless but we want to be able to add to our long list of concerned Nigerians, the Head of State, General Abudusalam Abubakar. As a man of family, he can imagine what it means for a family to be deprived of the father of the house and the bread winner. He is a man of experience who must know that the injustice and pain meted to ordinary families in the name of dubious reasons of state creates only dissension and hatred in society rather than bring peace and reconciliation. We are law-abiding citizens demanding freedom for law-abiding husbands whose only misfortune is that they are journalists and workers in media houses who have refused to abandon the truth in order to flatter ! ! and deceive people in authority. We think it is particularly unfair to put us, members of the families of the detained in double jeopardy by being asked to join in moving the nation forward with our beloved ones in chains, gagged and without access to likeminds.
TO OUR DEAR READERS: Media Monitor is a dialogical project. We expect that its contents will elicit reactions from its readers. Consequently, you are all encouraged to share your feelings with one another on its pages. Letters not longer than 200 words marked for the attention of the Editor, Media Monitor, should be e-mailed to: ijc@linkserve.com.ng
MEDIA MONITOR IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AND CIRCULATED WORLDWIDE BY INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM CENTRE (IJC), TEJUMOLA HOUSE, 1ST FLOOR, 24 OMOLE LAYOUT, NEW ISHERI ROAD, P.O.BOX 7808, LAGOS, NIGERIA. TEL/FAX 234-1-4924998; E-MAIL: ijc@linkserve.com.ng
Media Monitor