Lagos-based constitutional lawyer
and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome, has warned President
Muhammadu Buhari not to take away the freedom of speech the same way he has
allegedly taken food from the mouths Nigerians.
Ozekhome was reacting to
accusation by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, that the nation’s media was “promoting hate
speeches” and not supporting government.
The senior lawyer pointed out
that a report could not amount to hate speech when the media was accurately
narrating events that took place.
Fielding questions from Sun,
Ozekhome explained, “You are merely narrating an event that took place and in
the write-up, some of us told the President what to do.
“For instance, we told him to
relocate the Inspector General of Police and send the military there because
the police do not have the capacity to curtail the issue.
“The military should be
redeployed to states, like Benue, Taraba and Plateau the way they were taken to
Umuahia when IPOB was exiting.
“So, if you make a comparative
analysis about what is happening, how does it amount to hate speech? Except if
they want to finally take away our freedom of speech in this country because
they have already taken away the food from our table.
“If they want to take away our
God-given freedom of speech, then they have to tell us.
“The media is the fourth estate
of the realm and it is the only entity empowered by Section 22 of the 1999
constitution to hold the government accountable and responsible to the people
of Nigeria.
“The media’s job is to keep the
government on its toes. Did the media not keep Goodluck Jonathan’s government
on its toes and he was subsequently removed, in preference to President
Muhammadu Buhari?
“The All Progressives Congress
(APC) leveraged and used the media effectively to oust Jonathan; so, why are
they suddenly getting touchy about how the media reports events? Do they not
know that what goes around comes around?
“The media was carrying out its
constitutional responsibility and when Jonathan was overwhelmed, he threw in
the towel even before the last results were announced.
“The government would be joking
to expect every media in Nigeria to support it.”
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