9 March 1999
NIRAN MALAOLU RELEASED IN NIGERIA, BUT OPPRESSIVE MEDIA LAWS REMAIN
Niran Malaolu, the last journalist known to remain in jail in Nigeria, was pardoned and released on 4 March, report local Nigerian groups, the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN and Reporters sans frontières (RSF). Malaolu, deputy editor of "The Diet", was released from a 15-year sentence after he was detained in December 1997 for reporting on an alleged coup. According to RSF, besides Malaolu, 95 other prisoners convicted for having participated in the alleged coup attempt against the previous ruler, General Sani Abacha, were also pardoned. "This decision suggests Nigeria's commitment to the road to democracy and respect for the freedom of the press," says RSF in a 4 March statement, noting Malaolu was the last journalist to remain imprisoned.
However, groups concerned with free expression in Nigeria note that the country's new President, retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, elected on 28 February, was the author of many of the repressive media laws on the books in Nigeria, passed when he was president in the 1970s. Obasanjo was also the first leader to have banned media outlets.
According to RSF in a 5 March report, Tenent Akenzua and Richard Amayo, respectively general manager and editor of "Nigerian Observer," owned by the Nigerian government and based in Benin City, have been suspended. They are accused of publishing information about the criticism of North American and European observers during the parliamentary elections in February. According to an official of the Nigerian government, the journalists were suspended due to "some aspects of their articles" and "complete contempt for national interests and security."
On 24 February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a special report entitled "Outliving Abacha: Six Journalists' Prison Stories," highlighting the horrors Nigerian journalists endured under military rule. CPJ says, "Despite his promises of a democratic election and a transition to democracy, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has failed to take steps to ensure that repressive laws used to criminalise independent media are repealed." CPJ's report relates first-hand accounts by prominent independent journalists who were imprisoned because of their work: Kunle Ajibade, Chris Anyanwu, Ben Charles-Obi, George M'bah, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, and Babafemi Ojudu. CPJ's Africa program coordinator Kakuna Kerina called for the repeal of "all decrees and laws that have been used to punish scores of journalists," including the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984, which authorises indefinite, incommunicado detention of any citizen; the Offensive Publications (Proscription) Decree No. 35 of 1993, which allows the state to seize any publication that offends the government; and the Treason and Treasonable Offenses Decree No. 29 of 1993, which granted a special military court authority to impose life sentences on journalists accused of reporting on an alleged plot against the Abacha regime. The report is available on CPJ's Website at
http://www.cpj.org.
ARTICLE 19 and Media Rights Agenda (MRA) are holding a "Media Laws Reform Workshop" on 16 to 18 March in Lagos to try to address these concerns. ARTICLE 19 says it "will be the first international forum in Nigeria in many years to tackle issues of human rights." Non-governmental organisations, media workers, legal experts, government officials and an inter-governmental representative are scheduled to attend. Guest speakers include Glenys Kinnock, Member of the European Parliament, Abid Hussein, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Chief John Nwodo (Jnr), Nigerian Minister for Information and Culture, Prof. A.H. Yadudu, Special Adviser to the Head of State on Legal Matters, and John Manyarara, Former Judge (now retired) of the Zimbabwe High Court. ARTICLE 19 says, "The conference will highlight the many legal impediments to media freedom in Nigeria, which thus hinder the press from playing its vital role of informing civil society and promoting debate. These include a panoply of laws and decrees which have yet to be revised to bring them into line with international standards."
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