The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked world leaders to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to order his officials and security forces to halt the harassment and physical attacks targeting journalists for writing stories considered as politically injurious to the Federal Government.

HURIWA has also asked media owners and the professional bodies such as Nigerian Guild of Editors, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) to immediately activate mechanisms to implement transparent and accountable life insurance policies for media workers so as to cushion the pains of the immediate family members losing their breadwinners in the line of duties.

The rights group said the recent killing of journalists by the police in Abuja during a public demonstration of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) is totally condemnable just as it expressed sadness that even the media owners and professional bodies representing the interests of journalists have moved on even when the armed police that shot and killed the reporters, including Precious Awolabi of Channels Television and Alex Ogbu.

“Apart from the FCT chapter of NUJ that has been at the forefront of the campaign for justice for the murdered journalists, the national body and all other affiliate unions have done nothing to ensure that the vicious circle of killings of Journalists by police are brought to an end rapidly,” HURIWA said.

It condemned the alleged invasion by Department of States Services (DSS) operatives of the official residence of the Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Muskiliu Mojeed, and the intimidation and harassment of his wife, Mrs. Haulat Mojeed.

The rights group said the attempt to force the reporters of PREMIUM TIMES to disclose their sources of the exclusive story on the riffs between the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff to President Buhari over the ongoing counter terror war was unconstitutional and smacks of a return to the dark days of dictatorship and military regimes.

It said: “The media practitioners must never be compelled to disclose their sources because that is contrary to the professional ethics of the media practice. The moment a journalist is forced to disclose his source of a news story, which, in any event is factual marks the end of media freedoms. If the DSS or the Presidency feel bad about how the letter got leaked then let them go to court.

“By the way, the Freedom of Information Act permits the journalists to ask and receive such information in the national interest whether in form of a written request or verbal. On no account should PREMIUM TIMES or indeed any media house be harassed for doing what the constitution in Section 22 tasked then to do.

“The media reporter who got that story of the disagreements in the Presidency regarding alleged interferences of a civilian like the Chief of Staff to the President in military matters deserves a national award for bringing such a useful information to the open. He could have accepted huge bribes to kill the story but he was professionally efficient enough to circulate the story. So why the man hunt?

“Those who should be sacked are either the National Security Adviser or the Chief of Staff to the President who have reportedly constituted a clog in the wheel of any sort of pretence in the counter terror war which the brave military operatives are making supreme sacrifices to protect us from terrorists.

“We totally condemn the reported attacks on the premises of one of the most vocal independent online media houses in Nigeria. The PREMIUM TIMES and the reported man-hunt of Mr. Samuel Ogundipe. We have read that some men suspected to be officers of the DSS on Sunday morning breached the security of the Abuja residence of Muskilu Mojeed, the Editor-in-Chief of the online newspaper.

“We ask world leaders to save the Nigerian media from the pervasive climates of fear. The National Assembly; the Nigerian Police Force; and some rogue and compromised judges have conspired together to spread fear around the media industry in Nigeria.

“The use of intimidation, arbitrary arrest and obnoxious sentencing for carrying out the duties of informing and educating Nigerians have made the practice of media profession a highly dangerous job and the good journalists have become endangered species including civil society practitioners in Nigeria.”

HURIWA therefore expressed shock that even with all the laws in place, press freedoms are under constant government attacks, adding that the international community needs to act now.

HURIWA also noted that even universities-based journalism platforms have come under physical attacks for writing stories considered political detrimental to some selfish interests of some dictatorial government officials of all hues.

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