(IJC/IFEX) – The following is a joint letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo by IJC and other Nigerian NGOs: Community of Media NGOs C/o International Press Centre 42, Ogba-Ijaye Road Ogba, Lagos November 26, 2002 His Excellency Chief Olusegun Obasanjo President and Commander-In-Chief Federal Republic of Nigeria Presidential Villa Aso Rock Abuja Federal Capital Territory Your […]
(IJC/IFEX) – The following is a joint letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo by IJC and other Nigerian NGOs:
Community of Media NGOs
C/o International Press Centre
42, Ogba-Ijaye Road
Ogba, Lagos
November 26, 2002
His Excellency
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
President and Commander-In-Chief
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Presidential Villa
Aso Rock
Abuja
Federal Capital Territory
Your Excellency,
Open letter on the Fatwah pronouncement and other ordeals of THISDAY Newspapers over the Miss World Contest.
We the undersigned, representing a community of non-governmental media organizations, feel compelled to write you this open letter in view of the dangerous dimensions that reactions to the November 16, 2002, news report by THISDAY, The Saturday Newspaper, on the re-located Miss World contest, are assuming.
First and foremost, we wish to draw your attention to the lead report of the Nigerian Tribune of Tuesday, November 26, 2002, titled “Zamfara pronounces death sentence on journalist”.
The first two paragraphs of the report stated as follows: “The Zamfara State government on Monday passed a fatwah (death sentence) on author of the newspaper article found blasphemous by Muslims.” “The state’s acting governor, Alhaji Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi, declared at a rally in Gusau that the lady should be beheaded as a matter of religious duty.”
In the third paragraph, the report said further: “Alhaji Mamuda stated that he was in touch with the state governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani, who is performing the lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia, and said the governor directed that spilling the blood of Isioma had been declared lawful.”
Dear Excellency, as at the time of writing you this letter, there has been no denial of the Tribune story by the Zamfara state government or any of its agencies. We therefore take it that the state government stands by the said fatwah.
Secondly, we wish to draw your attention to the fact that the Kaduna office of THISDAY was razed by a group of protesters on Wednesday, November 20, 2002. Valuables and other property estimated at millions of Naira were lost to the destruction.
Thirdly, we wish to bring to your attention the fact that Mr. Simon Kolawole, editor of THISDAY, The Saturday newspaper, was detained on Friday, November 22, 2002, by operatives of the Abuja headquarters of the State Security Service (SSS), where he had gone to honour an invitation over the report in contention. He was held till Monday, November 24, 2002, when he was released and asked to report daily to the SSS office in Lagos.
Finally, the Kano state House of Assembly last week passed a resolution banning the circulation of THISDAY in the state.
We have gone this length in order to properly document the ordeal of THISDAY, despite the fact that it had publicly apologized over aspects of its November 16, 2002, report that offended Muslim sensibilities.
But what we see in these series of events suggest to us that they go beyond mere reactions to a report considered offensive by a section of the Nigerian populace. They constitute attacks on freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom of the press. The fatwah placed on Isioma Daniel especially, constitutes an attack on and a violation of the right to life, freedom and liberty of a Nigerian citizen as duly enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
We note that the THISDAY report in question has raised necessary and pertinent questions about the social responsibilities of the press, the need for journalists to exercise necessary caution while handling sensitive reports and also the imperative of respecting the feelings of others while reporting.
We agree that the ‘offending’ portion of the November 16, 2002, report ought to have been removed while we also accept the newspaper’s explanation that the portion was published in error as it had been decided that it should be expunged.
The Nigerian media fought for and cherishes the freedom it currently enjoys even as it seeks to expand the frontiers through such enabling laws as the proposed Freedom of Information Act. The media, to the best of our knowledge, does not take the freedom as “license to be insensitive; to show no consideration for other people’s feelings and other people’s way of life”, as the Guardian newspaper of Tuesday, November 26, 2002 quoted your Excellency to have said in your interview with the Cable News Network – CNN – on Monday, November 25, 2002.
However, as the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore the number one Chief Security Officer of the country, you owe it a responsibility to protect the lives of all citizens irrespective of professional calling, religion, tribe, etc. We urge you to fulfill this constitutional mandate by taking immediate and urgent steps to protect the life of Isioma Daniel, other journalists in the employment of THISDAY and the entire newspaper group.
We thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Edetaen Ojo – Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA)
Richard Akinnola – Chairman, Center for Free Speech (CFS)
Sola Isola – Executive Director, Independent Journalism Center (IJC)
Wale Adeoye – Chairman, Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER)
Lanre Arogundade – Coordinator, International Press Centre (IPC)
Cc:
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:His Excellency Chief Olusegun Obasanjo
President and Commander-In-Chief
Presidential Villa
Aso Rock
Abuja
Federal Capital Territory
Federal Republic of Nigeria
E-mail: olusegun.obasanjo@nopa.netPlease copy appeals to the source if possible.
