House Minority Caucus Decries FG’s Clampdown On Media

The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has frowned
upon the federal government’s growing clampdown on the media, as
well as the lack of professionalism and neutrality on the part of
the regulatory agency under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led
government.

The caucus said its position was predicated on the query issued
Channels Television by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
and the invitation of some presenters of the television outfit to
the headquarters of the Commission on Thursday over some recent
interviews conducted on the station’s morning show, Sunrise
Daily.

The leader of the caucus, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, in a statement
issued Friday also berated the federal government over an
unwarranted harassment of Channels Television and its staff.

The caucus noted that this development smacks of another toxic
push against press freedom and the citizens’ right to know,
contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

It said: “The Minority caucus frowns on the growing clampdown on
the media as well as the lack of professionalism and neutrality on
the part of the regulatory agency under the All Progressives
Congress (APC)-led federal government.

“As lawmakers, we hold that rather than try to muffle the media,
the broadcast regulator should have directed the television station
to avail the federal government the opportunity to refute, with
facts, the statements of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State
during the Sunrise Daily programme, which it considered critical or
misrepresentation of the government.”

The caucus described the commandeering of Channels Television
presenters to NBC’s headquarters in Abuja, the query of television
outfit, and the unrelenting intimidation of independent broadcast
media outfits by the NBC as most inauspicious.

It said Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution is very
clear that the security of lives and property is the primary
purpose of government, adding that the same constitution also vests
all the security agencies and legitimate instruments of coercion
solely in the federal government.

It stated: “Therefore, when criminal cartels freely prowl and
plunder the citizens, with the federal government showing manifest
failure to step up to discharge its constitutional obligations, why
should any reasonable government try to muffle the media in their
constitutional role in the collective effort to salvage the
situation, including the carnage going on in Benue State?

“The Minority caucus points the federal government to the call
by the governor of Mr. President’s home state, Hon. Bello Masari,
on people of Katsina State to defend themselves, and wonders how
such is different from the attempt by Governor Ortom to hold the
federal government to account on the failure to check the killings
in his state. Both confirm the total breakdown of security in the
land.”

The caucus insisted that when bloody bandits and terrorists find
their ways into an elite military training institution like the
Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), it presupposes nothing else but a
brutal violation of the country’s sovereignty and an unedited
collapse of government and security.

In that regard, the caucus noted that the federal government
should take steps to reassure the people rather than trying to
muffle information.

As representatives of the people, the Minority caucus reminded
the NBC the need to stick to professionalism and patriotism in the
discharge of its duties.

The caucus also called on the federal government to desist from
engaging in activities that give the citizens the impression that
it is always trying to cover up facts.

It added that the NBC should not promote the suppression of the
truth and it should bear in mind that there cannot be any NBC
without Nigeria.

The Caucus said it is also high time the NBC eschewed
partisanship and also understands that regulation does not
presuppose the suppression of truth, but the promotion of it.

The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has frowned
upon the federal government’s growing clampdown on the media, as
well as the lack of professionalism and neutrality on the part of
the regulatory agency under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led
government.

The caucus said its position was predicated on the query issued
Channels Television by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
and the invitation of some presenters of the television outfit to
the headquarters of the Commission on Thursday over some recent
interviews conducted on the station’s morning show, Sunrise
Daily.

The leader of the caucus, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, in a statement
issued Friday also berated the federal government over an
unwarranted harassment of Channels Television and its staff.

The caucus noted that this development smacks of another toxic
push against press freedom and the citizens’ right to know,
contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

It said: “The Minority caucus frowns on the growing clampdown on
the media as well as the lack of professionalism and neutrality on
the part of the regulatory agency under the All Progressives
Congress (APC)-led federal government.

“As lawmakers, we hold that rather than try to muffle the media,
the broadcast regulator should have directed the television station
to avail the federal government the opportunity to refute, with
facts, the statements of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State
during the Sunrise Daily programme, which it considered critical or
misrepresentation of the government.”

The caucus described the commandeering of Channels Television
presenters to NBC’s headquarters in Abuja, the query of television
outfit, and the unrelenting intimidation of independent broadcast
media outfits by the NBC as most inauspicious.

It said Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution is very
clear that the security of lives and property is the primary
purpose of government, adding that the same constitution also vests
all the security agencies and legitimate instruments of coercion
solely in the federal government.

It stated: “Therefore, when criminal cartels freely prowl and
plunder the citizens, with the federal government showing manifest
failure to step up to discharge its constitutional obligations, why
should any reasonable government try to muffle the media in their
constitutional role in the collective effort to salvage the
situation, including the carnage going on in Benue State?

“The Minority caucus points the federal government to the call
by the governor of Mr. President’s home state, Hon. Bello Masari,
on people of Katsina State to defend themselves, and wonders how
such is different from the attempt by Governor Ortom to hold the
federal government to account on the failure to check the killings
in his state. Both confirm the total breakdown of security in the
land.”

The caucus insisted that when bloody bandits and terrorists find
their ways into an elite military training institution like the
Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), it presupposes nothing else but a
brutal violation of the country’s sovereignty and an unedited
collapse of government and security.

In that regard, the caucus noted that the federal government
should take steps to reassure the people rather than trying to
muffle information.

As representatives of the people, the Minority caucus reminded
the NBC the need to stick to professionalism and patriotism in the
discharge of its duties.

The caucus also called on the federal government to desist from
engaging in activities that give the citizens the impression that
it is always trying to cover up facts.

It added that the NBC should not promote the suppression of the
truth and it should bear in mind that there cannot be any NBC
without Nigeria.

The Caucus said it is also high time the NBC eschewed
partisanship and also understands that regulation does not
presuppose the suppression of truth, but the promotion of it.