By OBIAJULU AGU
“The person that gathers home insect-infested firewood invites lizards to a feast.” – Igbo, South-East Nigeria proverb.
Nigerian journalists shot themselves in the collective foot penultimate week when the beneficiaries of that absurdity acceded to the unconstitutional accreditation of media houses by the Department of State Service (DSS) in order to access and cover a critical court case in the course of their legitimate professional journalism practice.
On that occasion, Nigeria’s secret police, addicted to harassing the Press, had decided on illegal regulation of media coverage by bestowing on 10 media houses “licence” to attend court and cover proceedings in the resumed treasonable felony trial of Biafra nation campaigner Nnamdi Kanu.
Too many journalism practitioners in Nigeria do not place premium on camaraderie. It is a divided Fourth Estate of the Realm (in Nigeria), whose members indulge in unhealthy rivalries and competitions, and the more insecure and egomaniacal among them derive their self-validation from the word “select”. The word is an alluring lure wily news sources or brokers dispense in the mix and is a never-fail in netting and retaining the interests and services of the ilk concerned more as journalists with their prime featured position as celebrities in their own articles than being mere newshounds and purveyors.
Therefore, it is no surprise that the “DSS-10” fell for the “select” journalists trap of the secret police. The more self-absorbed among the “DSS-10” must have viewed those colleagues not listed among the “select” as lesser professionals. The hackles of those journalists unjustly villified by the DSS illegal selection was justly raised, generating further angst in an atmosphere already dripping with tension.
Buoyed by self-awarded good ratings from the ugly drama it created by its invasion and occupation of a court and subsequent intimidation, harassment and traumatisation of the journalists out to cover the Kanu trial, the secret police presented uglier sequels in another Abuja court the times a number of aides of the Yoruba nation campaigner Sunday “Igboho” Adeyemo were brought before the court this week.
A pattern has been set by the DSS, which the secret police is bound to make a trend, because, no condemnation or rebuke, no matter how mild, has come from any ministerial department or agencies of the harassment of journalists on their legitimate duties in the temple of justice ostensibly under a constitutional democracy. Yuck! I covered the judiciary under military rule and never experienced any incident of security operatives – military or paramilitary or secret police – invading and occupying any court to intimidate, harass and traumatise journalists and lawyers and other persons out on their legitimate businesses at the courts, like the stormtroopers of the DSS did recently and will most likely continue to do in the present season of angst Nigeria dwells in.
Camaraderie, true and tested, is not a common commodity within the ranks of the Nigerian press, but I exhort practitioners to discard whatever are their rivalries and other differences are in order to bond and form a bulwark against the character of the sadistic schoolyard bully that the DSS played at courts with panache.
Until the DSS tenders unreserved public apology to the press in Nigeria, pledging to cease and desist from impeding legitimate journalism practice in the country, I, as a concerned party, righteously heartbroken by sights of journalists consistently humiliated in quick measure at the courts in Abuja, and by my personal experiences of intimidation, harassment and traumatisation at the hands of the Department in Adamawa and Lagos states, further recommend that a united Nigerian press must then embark on indefinite embargo of coverage of DSS- organised press conferences and other events, as well as the publication of the Department’s press releases and statements. After all, from the not-too-distant past since the Department condescended to press relations to the present, its press briefings have consistently been boorishly contrived and lacking in qualities of news.
Journalism has been described as the record of history in haste. Scribes or recordists of history through the ages, have been invaluable in the development, progress and sustenance of humankind and the adjuncts. Responsible journalists, particularly in the ever-expanding era of information superhighway, are the veritable scribes to be trusted to record our constantly evolving trajectory for posterity with the proper perspectives and requisite objectivity in a world in a flux.
Nigerian journalists, please, always dignify yourselves in the face of intimidation, harassment and traumatisation. Forever, resist attempts from within or outside the profession to create fresh fault lines or nurture festering schisms in your ranks. A hurt against one must always been seen as hurt to all, and remedy collectively and conclusively sought!
Nigerian journalists, united we stand divided we fall!
…Agu is a time-tested journalist that cut his journalism tooth at the defunct National Concord. by
