Declining Fortunes Of Press Freedom 

This year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) was observed yesterday, May 3, 2020, to high light the fundamental principles of press freedom, and to defend the media from attacks on their independence. WPFD is also known as World Press Day. The day similarly honours journalists who were killed and aims at spreading awareness about the primacy of press freedom.
WPFD is a scheme from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to bolster and think about the function of media organisations and professionals. Its objective is to hold governments to account for their undertaking to freedom of the press and to enable the press to reflect on professional ethics. Freedom of the press fosters a more democratic, stronger and inclusive society and is essential for the protection and promotion of human rights.
The theme of this year’s International Press Freedom Day is “Journalism Under Digital Siege.” The goal is to underline the role of information in an online media environment. Many independent and dedicated journalists and media workers around the world keep exposing injustice in their countries and contribute to building a better future. A lot are encountering daily assault, brutality and stalking, both online and offline.
World Press Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December, 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. Since then, May 3, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, the Namibian capital, has been celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.
Freedom of the press is widely acknowledged to be the engine of democracy. Thomas Macaulay, the British statesman and historian in the 19th century, said, “The Fourth Estate ranks in importance equally with the three estates of the realm, the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the Lords Common.” As the French writer, Benjamin Constant, noted, “With newspapers, there is sometimes disorder; without them, there is always slavery.”
Regrettably, press freedom has come under relentless onslaughts in Nigeria despite clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in Section 39. For instance, the two journalists shot to death in July, 2019 and January, while covering the demonstrations of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, are only two extremes.
Police, military and other security personnel regularly harass journalists and media outfits. In January, 2019, armed soldiers and Department of State Services (DSS) agents raided the Daily Trust offices in Maiduguri, Borno State and Lagos at the same time. They apprehended two journalists, alleging that the newspaper “leaked classified military information and sapped national security.”
Police in Ebonyi State, following threats by Governor David Umahi to “ban” the duo for alleged inauspicious reports, independently arrested the correspondents of The Sun and The Vanguard newspapers in Abakaliki, the state capital. This is not all. Journalists also learnt of Governor Ben Ayade’s rant and rave in Cross River State, where one of them, Agba Jalingo, was suspected of treason.
In February, 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists disclosed how the police and the DSS had been improperly using the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 to tap into phones to track and lure journalists into detention. The law requires network service providers to help security agencies with crime prevention and national security, but it has often been used to badger the media.
Subsequent to the extensive attacks on journalists after Jones Abiri, Agba Jalingo and Omoyele Sowore, an online editor, were detained, The Guardian of London cautioned that under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, a “climate of fear” appeared looming as continuous attempts to gag the press “could herald a return to the dark days of military rule.”  We agree. These may be well-known in dictatorships, but they are the very converse in democracies.
The mugging has to stop. Harassment should be combated by the appropriate use of the law. Like the illustrious human rights lawyer, the late Gani Fawehinmi, took up the case of Minere Amakiri, a journalist who was sequestered, whipped and forcefully shaven on the orders of the then military governor of old Rivers State, Alfred Diete-Spiff, public-spirited lawyers should provide services to oppressed journalists, especially smaller ones, and online outlets.
There is no hesitancy that Buhari would not have been President without a free press. Power is short-lived; Buhari has long been in opposition. As spokesman for the opposition party, Lai Mohammed used the free press and social media with merciless ardency against the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Leaders should expand on the democratic space instead of shutting it down.
Maria Ressa, a journalist, and founder of the news organisation, Rappler, in the Philippines, said in 2018: “You don’t really know who you are until you’re forced to fight to defend it … We will hold the line.” Nigerian journalists should hold the line here as well. All Nigerians have a duty to defend the rights to free expression and the press. That is where we stand!