NIGERIA-MEDIA: Abiola’s Newspaper Back On The Streets

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 2 1996 (IPS) - “You missed me because I was severely Abachalised,” explains a cartoon man in plaster on the back page of the ‘Concord’, an independent newspaper which hit the streets Tuesday after an 18-month ban.

Owned by jailed Nigerian opposition politician Moshood Abiola, who is widely believed to have won Nigeria’s 1993 presidential elections, the paper was shutdown in August 1994 by Gen. Sani Abacha.

‘The Guardian’ and ‘Punch’, also privately-owned were forced shut at the same time at the height of protest intended to force the military out of power and the instalation of Abiola, jailed on treason charges after declaring himself president on the anniversary of the annulled election.

An unreserved apology to the head of state for any transgression against either the government or the person of Abacha from the paper’s management brought the ‘Guardian’ a reprieve in July 1995.

“I hope unlike the ‘Concord’ and the ‘Punch’ that the ‘Guardian’ will show genuine remorse and reciprocate the government’s gesture of goodwill,” Abacha told the paper’s management and members of the Newspaper Proprietor’s Association of Nigeria.

But the ‘Concord’ and ‘Punch’, among the largest circulation papers before the ban, refused to give in and remained proscribed until October 1995.

Physical damage to its printing machines hampered the ‘Concord’s’ resumption of operations, sources close to the newspaper say. But its first issue back on the streets was as fearless and provocative as ever.

Tuesday’s lead story focused on democracy and the war between the military government and the international community, while the back page carried a six-column headline “Ogonis to mourn Saro- Wiwa, others” a reference to the recent execution of the minority rights campaigner that triggered international outrage.

The front page editorial announced: “We do not regard the unbanning as a special favour to be reciprocated with a show of remorse and contrition, but as a belated undoing of what should not have been done in the first place”.

“If the concord and other newspapers that were peremptorily banned had breached the laws of the country, the authorities should have prosecuted them in the law courts, unless they have no faith in the judiciary,” the editorial reads.

It thanks all, “men and women of goodwill, at home and abroad, whose appeals, according to General Sani Abacha, moved him to lift the ban” but notes that the appeals, however well-intentioned, are ultimately subversive of the rule of law and democracy.

“They invest in persons to whom they are directed, powers that they do not posses and ought not to possess – powers that, in effect, set them above the constitution,” the editorial insists.

The paper’s tone has rekindled fears that it may be heading for a fresh collision with Abacha’s regime.

“The Concord has to be tactical in its criticisms of this government otherwise it might incur the wrath of the military and its security operatives as is happening to some opposition newspapers now,” says Biola Alagoa, a journalist.

“If they (military government) can not close the papers down because of the negative impact it will have on their image, they can at least burn their buildings and equipment down to prevent them from publishing,” Alagoa continues.

This seems an oblique reference to the fires that gutted the premises of the newly-opened ‘Guardian’ two weeks ago and the ‘News Magazine’ on New Year’s Eve.

The finger has been pointed at security agents as both publications were ardent critics of government. Alagoa believes: “this is the beginning of new tactics to force opposition papers out of circulation. It is government of thuggery.”

Revealing that the fire at the ‘News Magazine’ caused extensive damage to vital documents, computers and other electronic equipment, Editor-in-Chief Dapo Olorunyomi shares Alagoa’s suspicions.

“Though nothing was stolen, put in the context of the ‘Guardian’ fire about two weeks ago, we suspect arson. Only our own floor was burnt in the four-storey building,” Olorunyomi said.

‘Tell’, another combative privately-owned news magazine has also repeatedly fallen foul of the government. On Dec. 17, 55,000 copies of the magazine were seized at the printers by security agents, another 50,000 copies six days later and Editor-in-Chief, Nosa Igiebor, was arrested and detained.

The Dec. 25 edition of the magazine was titled “Abiola’s Freedom: The World Waits for Abacha” while the New Year’s Day edition seized on Dec. 23 bore the title: “Abacha is Adamant: Terrorises the Opposition”.

NIGERIA-MEDIA: Abiola’s Newspaper Back On The Streets

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 2 1996 (IPS) - “You missed me because I was severely Abachalised,” explains a cartoon man in plaster on the back page of the ‘Concord’, an independent newspaper which hit the streets Tuesday after an 18-month ban.
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