In a bewildering and indeed excessive disposition, Governor Mohammed Bago of Niger State made banner headlines in many online and regular media as he ordered security agencies to enforce the shutdown of a radio station – the Badeggi FM for violating what he described as unethical contents in its operations.
It was believed not by a few Nigerians when he made the pronouncement ordering the sealing of the broadcast station that it was done out of an excessive abuse of power and contrary to the laws setting up such organisations. By the time, Bago’s orders were in the works by the willing security agencies that are at his beck and call, his irreverent position had reached far beyond our shores. It kept tongues wagging over the proprietary of such an outlandish posturing.
Bago had ordered that the station based in Minna, the state capital be shut down and its licence revoked, citing public incitement. Many responded by saying it was a show of absolute power which John Lockes, a philosopher postulated corrupts absolutely.
The governor reportedly immediately directed the Commissioner of Homeland Security, Mohammed Bello, and the Commissioner of Police, Adamu Elleman, to ensure that the media organisation remained under lock and key and directed security operatives to profile the station’s owner, saying the station has been promoting violence.
Bago, who gave the order during an expanded meeting of the Niger State All Progressives Congress, APC, Caucus held at the Government House in Minna, noted that the decision was made because the daily activities of the radio station had been deemed unethical. He accused the owners of the station of inciting the public against the government.
Shortly after the governor’s orders, all hell was let loose on Niger State as both International and local organisations condemned his action, stressing that he went against democratic ethos. Amnesty International fired the first salvo. The international human rights ombudsman condemned the governor’s action.
It said the allegation that the radio station was “inciting violence” and the subsequent directive to revoke its licence represents an abuse of power. In a statement by the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, the organisation said the order for the closure of the radio station was misguided and unjustifiable.
Sanusi criticised the state government’s focus on media clampdown amid what he termed worsening insecurity in the region, including killings and mass displacement by armed groups.
“The governor’s allegation against the radio station of ‘inciting violence’ and his order that ‘the licence of the radio station be revoked’ clearly show abuse of power and unacceptable intolerance of critical voices. The order for the closure of the radio station is misguided and unjustifiable,” he said.
Sanusi called on Bago to immediately withdraw the order, stating that under Nigerian law, state governors lack the authority to shut down broadcast stations.
Attacking Badeggi 90.1 FM is part of a wider pattern of attempts to create a climate of fear across newsrooms in Nigeria and to make it harder for journalists to do their jobs.
Many have urged him to withdraw his unlawful order. Under Nigerian laws, the Governor has no power to order the closure of a radio station. Choosing to bizarrely blame a radio station for the inexcusable security failures of the government is an open attack on media freedom.
It is heartwarming that the Federal Government also swiftly distanced itself from the governor’s abusive tendencies, stressing that there are rightful channels to chart in addressing such perceived media infringement on others’ rights.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, and some NGO’s among others denounced the action as abusive and tendentious.
With this tendencies running through other fabrics of our political terrain, it is pertinent to ask if the agitation for state police is not already being threatened by these typical disorderliness.
Political office holders should be properly schooled on their rights and those of the citizenry as impunity is alien to the culture of democracy as we are now witnessing.
There is no doubt the need for some ‘civic education’ for political office holders and their cronies to avoid some of these and incongruous and laughable abuse of powers that tend to debase our collective integrity.
This self-over-estimation should be bridled before it escalates in other forms by political office holders.
If a governor can by executive Fiat order the closure of a media outfit, then what role is left for regulatory agencies constitutionally empowered for such task?
