Like much of the country, the press was caught up in an often-turbulent national debate last year over the adoption of an Islamic legal system, known as sharia, by nine Nigerian states. Ahmed Sani, governor of Zamfara State, charged that Nigerian press coverage of the issue showed that local journalists were a "force of destruction" bent on "pitting citizens against one another." Sani had earlier ordered the official Zamfara State Radio not to air anti-sharia news items. In March, he ordered security agents to seize all copies of three daily newspapers, The Nigerian Tribune, The Vanguard, and The Guardian, because they contained reports on sharia.
A former Nigerian ruler, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari, also accused the media of instigating so-called sharia riots between Muslims and non-Muslims, during which hundreds of people died. Speaking to reporters in early July, Shagari said, "You people simply want to sell your papers and so you come up with all sorts of sensational headlines. Are you not tired of creating confusion?"
Yet Nigerian journalists had good reason to be concerned by the prospect of working under Islamic law. In the Nigerian version of sharia, for example, reporters found guilty of publishing offensive stories could receive 60 strokes of a cane at a public forum that would be witnessed by their editors and covered by the print and electronic media. In October, a sharia court in Zamfara State began hearing its first press case. Ironically, the case was filed by the chairman of the local branch of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Alhaji Ibrahim Kanoma, who sought redress against Alhaji Nababa Sanda, the editor of the tabloid Legacy, for describing him as a "mischief-maker and an unprofessional journalist." The court had not yet issued a ruling at year's end.
Press freedom also suffered in regions where secessionist movements are active. In the former Biafra, for instance, where the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is fighting for independence from the federal government, police arrested Corlinius Igbokwe, editor of the monthly magazine The Globe, and held him for five days. The journalist had criticized MASSOB's demands for an independent state, to which the local police apparently subscribed.
The Nigerian Press Council (Amendment) Decree No. 60, issued in 1999, established a regulatory office staffed by journalists who are paid by the government to enforce professional ethics. Predictably, the Press Council has itself become a subject of heated controversy, with most journalists describing it as a vehicle of censorship. The Press Council is empowered to accredit and register journalists, and can suspend journalists from practicing their profession. All Nigerian publications must register annually with the council, which imposes fines of US$2500 or up to three years in jail for publishing without a license. Publishers are also required to send a performance report to the council, or risk a fine of US$1000.
In November, a meeting of Nigerian professional media groups in Abuja issued a manifesto demanding a single law for print and broadcast media that would make defamation a civil, rather than criminal, offense and protect reporters against compulsory disclosure of their sources. The journalists also endorsed a liberal freedom-of-information bill being considered by Nigerian legislators.
At year's end, hopes ran high that the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC), set up in June 1999 by President Obasanjo, would open up Nigeria's traumatic history of military dictatorships for objective scrutiny, along the lines of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. One case on the Commission's current agenda is the 1986 parcel bomb killing of investigative journalist Dele Giwa. Lawyers for Giwa's family have blamed Gen. Ibrahim Babangida's military regime for the murder.
Nigerian journalists also urged the commission to look into the still-unresolved 1996 disappearances of Bagauda Kaltho, Kaduna correspondent for The News, and Chinedu Offoaro, a reporter for The Guardian.
JANUARY 12
Eubaldus Enahoro, The Observer
ATTACKED
Sunday Osadebamwen, The Observer
ATTACKED
Angry inhabitants of Adeje, a small village near the town of Warri in
Nigeria's Delta state, chased reporter Enahoro into the bush where he
spent the night. He was declared missing by his employer until he showed
up unharmed two days later. The journalist, who works for the Edo state-owned
paper The Observer, had arrived in Adeje to investigate reports
that villagers had vandalized an oil pipeline and were siphoning off fuel
for sale.
Two days before Enaharo's arrival, the villagers had frightened off Osadebamwen,
a photographer for The Observer.
JANUARY 19
Wale Adeoye, Punch
HARASSED
Tunde Aremu, Punch
HARASSED
Nicholas Nwafor, The News
HARASSED
Lekan Otufodunrin, Journalist for Christ
HARASSED
More than 50 Nigerian police stormed the International Press Centre (IPC)
in Lagos and arrested several people, including four journalists from
independent newspapers: Adeoye and Aremu of Punch, Nwafor of The
News, and Otufodunrin of Journalist for Christ. The police
also ransacked offices and demanded to see computer files.
According to local journalists, the police raid was aimed at rounding
up suspected terrorists whom the police believed to be attending a press
conference in the IPC's hall (which is regularly hired out on a commercial
basis). The press conference was being given by the Oodua Liberation Movement,
which is similar in name but quite distinct from an outlawed political
organization, the Oodua People's Congress.
The four journalists and others arrested at the scene were released without
charges the same day.
Igba Ogbole, Radio Benue
ATTACKED
Ogbole, a reporter with Radio Benue in Benue state, was assaulted, arrested,
and detained by local police. He was stripped naked and held in a cell,
where other inmates beat him severely.
Ogbole, producer of Radio Benue's weekly personalities program "View Point,"
had invited the Benue state police commissioner, Sunday Aghedo, to appear
on the show. Apparently, police public relations officer Ike Nwosu also
wanted to be interviewed. When Nwosu was told that only the commissioner
of police could appear and not a subordinate officer, he became angry
and ordered Ogbole's arrest.
Ogbole was released a few hours later after police officers interceded
on his behalf.
FEBRUARY 3
Mayor Adeyi, TELL
HARASSED
Plainclothes detectives arrested Adeyi, assistant editor and Jos City
bureau chief of the independent weekly magazine TELL, at his office
in Jos, the capital of Plateau state. He was taken to the local Criminal
Investigation Bureau and then moved to a detention facility in the state
capital, Abuja. He was released the next day.
The arrest resulted from Adeyi's interview with Senator Joseph Kennedy
Waku in that week's edition of TELL. During the interview, Waku
called for a military coup against President Olusegun Obansanjo.
The Senate subsequently suspended Waku pending an investigation by its
disciplinary committee. Waku, however, threatened to sue the magazine
over what he called "misrepresentation of view." (He did not in fact pursue
legal action against TELL).
The Senate reinstated Waku on February 10, after an ad hoc committee of
legislators reviewed a tape of the interview and found that he had made
no statement that "buttressed the call for a military coup."
FEBRUARY 8
Stanley Yakubu, Punch
THREATENED
Sokoto state authorities threatened Yakubu, a local correspondent for
the Lagos daily Punch, because of what they described as continuous
negative coverage of their administration.
The state director of press affairs told Yakubu that the authorities were
increasingly disturbed by his reporting style, according to CPJ sources.
The director also warned the journalist to be more careful in the future
and to stop "writing nonsense" if he wanted to live a long life. "Here,
we take good care of people like you," the official added.
FEBRUARY 21
Timothy Olakunde Ojo, The News
ATTACKED
Saka Anifowose, The News
ATTACKED
Olakunde Ojo, sales manager for the weekly magazine The News, and
Anifowose, a driver employed by the magazine, were attacked in Kaduna,
northwest Nigeria, by a group of Muslim activists who threw stones at
their car. The attackers expressed vocal hostility towards the press,
damaged the car, and stabbed Anifowose three times in the stomach. Anifowose
survived his injuries after receiving treatment in a Kaduna hospital.
Throughout February, the town of Kaduna was the scene of deadly clashes
between Muslim activists campaigning for the adoption of sharia (Islamic
law) in Kaduna state and Christian activists who opposed them.
MARCH 2
African Newspapers of Nigeria
ATTACKED, CENSORED
Twelve armed security agents stormed the Ibadan headquarters of the African
Newspapers of Nigeria, publishers of the Nigerian Tribune, and
sealed off the entire company, interrupting production of the Tribune
and other newspapers. According to some sources, the agents told company
workers that the federal government had instructed them to ensure that
the Tribune did not come out that day. Journalists at the paper,
however, said they had no idea what motivated the attack.
Emmanuel Okike-Ogah, Ebonyi Times
LEGAL ACTION
Ogbonnaya Okorie, Ebonyi Times
LEGAL ACTION
Kingley Eze, Ebonyi Times
LEGAL ACTION
Okike-Ogah and Okorie, both reporters at the private daily Ebonyi Times,
were arraigned on civil defamation charges along with Eze, a vendor of
the paper, in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state in Nigeria's eastern
region.
Ebonyi governor Sam Egwu had sued the two reporters for defamation, based
on a November 7, 1999 Ebonyi Times article titled "What Is Happening
in Ebonyi State?" Eze was charged for being in possession of the Ebonyi
Times issue that contained the allegedly libelous article.
Co-written by Okike-Ogah and Okorie, the story charged that Governor Egwu
had attempted to bribe local legislators to approve his nominees for a
range of government positions.
All three men pleaded not guilty to charges of "conspiracy to commit misdemeanor
and publishing a seditious article in an unregistered paper." They were
released on 5000 Naira (US$50) bail each.
It was unclear if the journalists were to appear in court again, or if
the charges against them had been dropped.
MARCH 3
David Oladimeji, News Flash
HARASSED
Gbade Ademola, News Flash
HARASSED
Bashiru Fasasi, News Flash
HARASSED
Kamilu Shitta, News Flash
HARASSED
Lagos police arrested Oladimeji, editor of the independent daily News
Flash, news editor Ademola, and reporters Fasasi and Shitta.
The police apparently reacted to an article in the February 10 edition
of the newspaper, entitled "Afikuyomi, Akande Implicated in Drug Deal"
(Tokunbo Afikuyomi is a senator, and Bisi Akande is a prominent businessman
and member of the opposition All Purpose Party.)
Police charged the four journalists with seditious libel capable of causing
public unrest. They were denied bail during the investigation, according
to CPJ sources in Nigeria. At least three of the four journalists remained
in jail until March 9, when they were released on bail and warned to be
"more careful next time."
MARCH 9
The Independent Monitor
CENSORED
Banner News
CENSORED
Union Oyadongha, Banner News
IMPRISONED
Bayelsa state security forces raided newsstands in Yenegoa, the state's
capital, and seized copies of The Independent Monitor and Banner
News. The officers also arrested Oyadongha, the publisher of Banner
News, which circulates only in Bayelsa.
The raid came in response to a report that ran in both papers under the
headline "134 Bayelsa, Rivers Indigenes Killed in Kaduna Sharia Riots."
Police asked Oyadongha to explain how he knew that those killed in the
riots were natives of Bayelsa and Rivers states. Oyadongha was released
a day later.
APRIL 4
Nduka Obaigbena, ThisDay
HARASSED
ThisDay
HARASSED
State security agents raided the Abuja office of the daily newspaper ThisDay
with a warrant to arrest Obaigbena, the paper's editor.
The authorities later claimed that they wanted to question Obaigbena over
an allegation that he had left unsettled hotel bills of nearly US$24,000
during a September 1999 IMF-World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C. ThisDay
denied the charges, saying that the Nigerian National Council on Privatization
was responsible for the bills.
Obaigbena told reporters that he had received several threatening phone
calls prior to the raid, warning him against publishing stories implicating
President Olesegun Obansanjo's national security advisor, Aliyu Mohamed
Gusau, in allegations of graft under the late dictator General Sani Abacha.
ThisDay had alleged that Gusau was at least aware of a multibillion-dollar
scandal involving a Russian-built steel plant.
Three days after the raid, Obaigbena unexpectedly resigned from the paper.
Obaigbena was cleared of the hotel nonpayment charges on April 21, after
the manager of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., confirmed
that his bill had been settled in full.
CPJ protested the raid on ThisDay in an April 14 letter to President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
APRIL 15
Neville Amorighoye, Vanguard
ATTACKED
A gang of knife-wielding youths assaulted Amorighoye, a correspondent
for the Lagos daily Vanguard, in the Niger Delta town of Warri.
The youths were apparently angered by an Amorighoye article reporting
that, contrary to popular belief, the Shell Petroleum Development Company
had apparently not dumped toxic chemicals in a local river.
Amorighoye said that eight youths stormed the local office of Vanguard
and inflicted knife wounds on his forefinger to deter him from writing
any more articles about the toxic-waste controversy.
MAY 29
Soni Daniel, Punch
ATTACKED
Tony Ita Etim, Punch
ATTACKED
Three of Akwa Ibom state governor Victor Attah's security guards assaulted
Daniel and Etim, correspondents for the Lagos newspaper Punch.
The assault took place at the governor's office in Uyo, the state capital,
where the two reporters were attending a press briefing.
When Daniel and Etim arrived at the governor's office, security men prevented
them from entering the reception area, even though Daniel identified himself
as an accredited reporter. An overzealous security guard then pushed Etim
from the staircase and dragged him outside the lobby.
When Daniel attempted to intervene, he sustained several blows to his
body. Etim was injured in the lower neck, while Daniel suffered a cut
on his right hand.
JUNE 9
Ken Eseni, Minaj Broadcasting International
ATTACKED
Wale Fatoye, Minaj Broadcasting International
ATTACKED
Eseni and Fatoye, reporter and cameraman, respectively, with the private
television network Minaj Broadcasting International (MBI), were attacked
and beaten by police while on assignment in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital.
The two-man television crew was attacked while filming a spontaneous demonstration
by a group of citizens protesting a recent fuel price hike. Eseni and
Fatoye were later arrested and interrogated at the Wuse police station
in Abuja. Upon their release several hours later, both journalists checked
themselves into Iduma Specialist Hospital with bruises, cuts, and minor
concussions.
JUNE 16
Canice Ikwuwgbu, ThisDay
ATTACKED
Ikwuwgbu, a reporter for the Lagos daily ThisDay, was assaulted
and beaten by police officers while covering a fire that destroyed two
warehouses belonging to the Lagos company Witt and Busch. The reporter
arrived at the scene of the fire at about 8 a.m. When Ikwuwgbu asked police
to brief him on the fire damage, they assaulted him, saying they did not
want any reporters at the scene. They also confiscated his identification
documents and bag, which they later handed back.
The journalist was treated for bruises on his head, neck, back, knees,
and ankles.
JULY 5
Funmi Komolafe, Vanguard
ATTACKED
Veteran reporter Komolafe of the private daily Vanguard was attacked
and savagely beaten by a group of striking labor union workers at the
Alausa Secretariat building in Lagos, where she had gone to interview
an official from the Nigeria Labor Union.
Sources contacted by CPJ said that Komolafe, who has covered the Nigerian
labor movement for decades, "would have been killed" had she not been
rescued by people present at the scene. She suffered several injuries
and a severe concussion and was unable to work for a week.
JULY 8
Zamfara State Radio
CENSORED
Commenting on press coverage of issues surrounding the adoption of the
Islamic legal system (sharia) by several Nigerian states, Governor Ahmed
Sani of Zamfara state proclaimed that the Nigerian press was a "force
of destruction" bent on "pitting citizens against one another."
The governor, whose statement was broadcast in the July 8 edition of "Hmsohi,"
a talk show program of the Hausa-language service of the BBC, also said
that he had ordered the official Zamfara State Radio not to air anti-sharia
news items or comments. "Those who oppose sharia in Zamfara state should
go elsewhere to speak their minds," he said.
The adoption of sharia by nine Nigerian states in early 2000 sparked protests
that caused the deaths of several hundred people.
NOVEMBER 18
Sam Onwuemeodo, Vanguard
ATTACKED
Onwuemeodo, the Port Harcourt correspondent for the Lagos independent
daily Vanguard, was assaulted by Ogoni youths when two factions
of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) clashed in
the Niger Delta town of Bori. Angered that Onwuemeodo was attempting to
photograph the mob violence, two youths assaulted the journalist and broke
his camera. The clash left five people, including Onwuemeodo, seriously
injured, and three cars destroyed.