CPJ Writes Buhari, Urges More Press Freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, on Wednesday wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari, calling on him to make press freedom one of the priorities of his administration.
The letter, dated June 3, was signed by CPJ’s Executive Director, Joel Simon, and copied to Mr. Buhari’s media aides, the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, Lai Mohammed as well as some top United Nations officials.
While congratulating the president for his victory at the polls, the CPJ urged him to take steps to ensure that journalists in the country work freely and openly without fear of reprisal.
Referring to Mr. Buhari’s inaugural speech in which he identified insecurity and pervasive corruption as his urgent concerns, the group commended the president for acknowledging the role played by the media in strengthening the country’s democracy.
Continue...

“As Nigeria aspires to strengthen its democracy, your government must show that it can tackle Nigeria’s challenges, including the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency and the use of terror tactics, but can do so without compromising democratic principles, whose core elements include press freedom and freedom of expression.
“The success of the democratic government you now lead will depend largely on the guarantee that journalists are free to inform the society about their commonwealth.”
CPJ said it welcomes the assurances by the president not to allow authorities to abuse the trust of the people and his promise to take disciplinary actions against security forces who violate the rights of Nigerians.

“We also ask that your administration prosecute the killers of journalists and that you ensure that police and security forces refrain from carrying out attacks, detentions, or intimidation of the press and that those who do face the full consequences of the law,” said Mr. Simon.