Insider Magazine: Guild of Editors Decry Attack
By Uchenna Ohakam
Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has decried the alleged invasion of the Insider Weekly magazine by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), saying the continued closure of the magazine's premises ran contrary to the current spirit of democracy in the country.
NGE said it believed "in an unfettered environment of free speech, which is the best for democracy to thrive".
A statement jointly signed by Halilu Baba Dantiye and Angela Agoawike, the Guild's President and Secretary respectively, said "it is sad to note that five years after the military was forced to relinquish power, the same obnxious practice of suppression of free speech has continued under an elected civilian administration".
The Guild noted that " while we recognise the responsibility entrusted on the executive, which controls the SSS to take responsibility for the country, we equally recognise the fact that the law courts are there and anyone who feels libeled by the any media organisation, should seek redress through constitution means".
It stated that "as president of the African Union (AU), President Olusegun Obasanjo cannot afford to give this dangerous signal to other African heads of state, that the state repression of free speech is a welsome development, because it is not. Instead it is a retrogressive act, capable of setting back the gains of democracy".
In view of this, the union, however, called for the immediate and unconditional release of the staff of the magazine as well as the evacuation of the premises of the publishing house by the SSS operatives including the harassment of the Editor-in -Chief of the magazine.
It further maintained that democracy can not thrive in a society where one arm of government hijacks other arms in order to perpetrate party agenda or personal agenda rather democracy can thrive in an environment of free speech.
"They sounded negative over the rate of freedom of speech in the civilian administration,there is no difference between the civilian and military administration on freedom of speech", the NGE added.
Explaining that the action could endanger the nascent democracy, the Guild said "for any society to thrive democratically, a vision which we are still aspiring to achieve, the basic ingredients of democracy, greatest of them, due process, (supposedly, the bedrock of the present administration); free speech and freedom of expression, must be part of the guiding principles".
Continuing, the NGE said, "by this statement and action, the SSS, acting on "orders from above" appointed itself the accuser, the jury and judge without any recourse to laid down procedures available to the aggrieved in any democratic society, as we seem to have".
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