In its edition of December 4, 2001, Daily Trust, in a front page lead reports that, ‘The Executive Director of FRCN Kaduna, has been queried over a radio phone-in-programme, Hannu Da Yawa, which featured PDP presidential aspirant Dr. Mohammadu Abubakar Rimi.” The report adds that “Rimi had paid FRCN over N10 million to be featured in the…programme over a one year period.” But that “… only one programme was aired before (it) was stopped by FRCN Director General Mr. Eddie Iroh.” Consequent upon this, says the report, ‘the files of all top management staff in Kaduna” had been requested for, “…preparatory to some impending disciplinary action.”
If this report is correct, and I have no reasons to doubt it, what legal or administrative rules have the ‘top management staff of the station violated to warrant impending disciplinary action particularly that FRCN, along with other federal government institutions, have been commercialized.” The only offence is that the station featured a supposed enemy of the administration who should not therefore be allowed access to federal media establishments even upon the payment of the fees! It also means that nobody who remotely opposes the policies of the administration or who shows interest in contesting the presidency would be allowed access to such establishments even after the payment of fees.
This attempt to muzzle the media is not the first. I was a victim myself. Sometimes ago, I paid the same station some specified amount for the airing of a commentary. To my surprise, the script was rejected and the amount returned. I protested to the management of the station but got no reply to date. This is well over one year ago today.
Keen listeners of the station must have noticed that it no longer broadcast its five minutes news commentary programme, undoubtedly one of the most educative and popular which was started in 1979. According to well informed sources, the Director General, a seasoned journalist, had ordered such programme on all FRCN stations banned because, according to my information some commentaries are not pleasant to the ears of the powers that be.
It is very interesting that not even during various military regimes were FRCN stations across the country muzzled up. It was also never the case during the second republic. In respect of FRCN Kaduna in particular, sources told me that in those days, four of the five political parties at the time wrote the station letters of commendation for the unbias of its political programme. I recall late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe saying, in one of the station’s political programme that it has established a tradition of fairness to all the five political parties. The then Enugu correspondent of the station, now the Executive Director FRCN Abuja Mr. Isah Edime, filed a report in which the late nationalist said that he was unwilling to give news conference without the presence of the station’s representative in Zamfara. There were also reports how Chief Bola Ige was said to have persuaded Chief Obafemi Owolowo, of blessed memory, to find time to listen to the station. Indeed, in his prison notes, Chief Ige is full of praises for the news commentary of the station.
All this is now gone because some people at the helm of affairs are intolerant of freedom of speech in a democracy such that management staff could be queried for sourcing money for the station through legitimate means. The ban which the Central Management of FRCN has placed on Abubakar Rimi is a clear demonstration of the undemocratic mind of our current democracy, if indeed it could be so called. Mr. Edieh Iroh is too fine a journalist, who believes in the freedom of the press to engage in such glaring anti-democratic activities no less worse than it was under military regime.
I recall that sometimes ago, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission warned Zamfara and Sokoto states owned radio stations respectively that they risked suspension from service and possible closure if they continued to deny other parties access to their respective stations. The nation is anxiously waiting the reaction of the Commission to the muzzling of FRCN station by the federal government as demonstrated by the Rimi episode. If the PDP controlled federal government could deny a PDP stalwart the right to air his views on the radio stations controlled by it, what right had the NBC got to threaten the closure of Zamfara and Sokoto states radio stations on ground that they were not allowing PDP officials the opportunity to air their views on the two stations. If PDP can deny one of its members the right to air his views over a station controlled by it, and for that matter after paying as much as N12.0 million, what then is wrong with an APP station denying a PDP member the opportunity to air his views on APP controlled stations.
The greater danger of the Rimi episode is that it demonstrates clearly the dictatorial character of our so-called democracy, it is a democracy where others are not allowed to enjoy the benefit of freedom of speech expressed lawfully. In its edition of May 7, 2001, Harry Marshal, whose struggle for a South-South presidency is well known, reportedly told the paper that the police have been after him for merely airing his legitimate views, on the “pleasure jamboree” embarked upon by the PDP at the Eagle Square, in the name of national convention, which for all practical purposes, was anything but a convention. I read the interview and there is nothing harmful in it. Some how some operators of our democracy believe that we all have to be yes men capitulating to their undemocratic tendencies where they order the closure of the accounts of some citizens without resort to the courts. By their actions, they are determined to kill our baby democracy in its infancy. If some people are insisting that Obasanjo and all current elected leaders be given automatic second term, outside the realm of democracy come 2003, what is wrong with Harry Marshal propagating for a South-South presidential candidate in 2003 or for Rimi wishing to contest for the post? This is what democracy entails.
If these federal operators of our democracy are right now denying us the opportunity to learn the ropes of the game, at a time when they are asking for our votes for a second term, what would happen to us and the democracy when they finally get the votes and have nothing more to hope for? My fear is that they may end up banishing democracy from our political terrain and there would be nothing we would do about it. This is why we must condemn the current attempts to muzzle the media especially the FRCN. We are aware of some old attitudes toward FRCN Kaduna in particular and the game is tactically being replayed. We may wake up one day to be told that the station has been closed down.
This is a serous challenge to the other two political parties. The PDP has sent them a signal that no matter how much they pay to get a hearing on its controlled stations they would never be allowed to do so. APP and AD must wake up from their slumber to challenge this serious danger. They have a responsibility to themselves and the nation to make it very clear that neither the PDP nor the federal government owned their establishments. Rather they are entrusted to the care of government for use by all Nigerians regardless of their party affiliation.
What happened to Rimis also a challenge to the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigerian, the Nigerian Union of Journalists and all truly minded democratic NGOS. It is not a war between Abubakar Rimi and the federal Government but a struggle between the forces of democracy and dictatorship. What happened to Rimi is not an insult to him but to democracy and all those who cherish it.
It
is all right for some elements to say, “well, it was done before during
military regime and Wada Nas was there”. But then this is why Nigerian
rejected these regimes. If we are to justify the present on the basis of past
happenings, then we have no business denouncing the past. We cannot justify, for
whatever reason, the current practice of democracy using dictatorial model. A
civilian dictatorship could be worse than a military one because democracy is
not part of dictatorship.
Let the point be made clear that if we tolerate these “little” violations, based on sentiments, we may end up retaining full blast dictatorship. This is why we must be resolute in rejecting, outrightly, the suggestion in certain quarters that all our elected leaders be allowed second term without going through democratic elections as clearly spelt out in the constitution. Under what rules of law is this to be done? What rights have we to deny Nigerians the rights allowed them by the constitution?
This is why we must see Rimi and Marshal more democratic than some of these our claimants. They are struggling to ensure the practice of democracy, as it should be. This should be our attitude towards them. This is why we also have to be careful with the warning dished out recently by a traditional ruler that any one who challenges the current governors in his domain come 2003 would do so at his own risk. All interested Nigerians should feel free to aspire to any position of their choice without threat or hindrance. The day we deny them this constitutional right the day our democracy is dead.
Let me at this stage call on Rimi, Edwin Clark and Marshal Harry to join forces in collaboration with the APP and AD, to free us from the looming danger of dictatorship hanging dangerously in the air. The three personalities must reach out to one another particularly that PDP is not going to accommodate them from all indications. In doing so, they should work closely with the other parties in the interest of the growth of our democracy. From the way things are going, the PDP does not seem prepared to allow us the free practice of democracy. If it becomes necessary for Rimi to be a running mate to some body from the area so be it.
I am not unaware that many may interpreted this as a subtle campaign for the APP in particular. It standing on the side of democracy means campaigning for the APP, so is it. There is no apology to be offered in defiance of democracy.
I am also aware of the rumour that Chief Sunday Dare, the Head of the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, has instructed that I should no longer be entertained on the station. I will never be made to believe that the VOA, with its long tradition of democracy would do to me what FRCN has done to Rimi. The American station is too refined a democratic institution to engage in such a practice. So, those who heard the rumour should ignore it. In any case my path has never crossed with Chief Dare, the Hausa service boss, or the VOA, to warrant such an unfounded rumour. Besides, most of my comments have been on domestic rather than international issues. I believe that people are manufacturing this rumour so as to say, “if VOA, a well known democratic institution can ban Wada Nas, so can FRCN ban Rimi from its air waves”.
Finally, let me make one point very clear. I am not opposed to any officer of this government and I am also not opposed to the government itself. I practically have nothing against its officers but I have a lot against some of its policies, which I consider undemocratic, discriminatory and of double standard. Take the Oputa Commission for example. President Obasanjo set it up to reconcile Nigerians. Yet the same president does not went to be reconciled with the Abacha family and the Bamaiyis. If there is sincerity in setting up the commission for the purpose of reconciling Nigerians, then the officers of the administration should demonstrate this by reconciling with the Abacha family and others. You can’t be reconciling other while you are not ready for reconciliation yourself. I personally cannot stand such a double standard.
So, I am opposed to policies and actions not personalities or the government. I have never felt it wrong to oppose insincerity, double speak discrimination, inconsistency etc. Nor is there any crime in speaking against dictatorship in a democracy. We must never shy away from commenting on events that affect our welfare. How could we for example keep mute in the face of the possible increase in fuel prices by about 100% or the ban on tokumbo vehicles. These are anti people policies that must be exposed, and I don’t see any crime in doing so.
Meanwhile, it baffles me that some people take exception when others remotely comment divergently on the Obasanjo administration. Yet such fellows are those who are still calling for the killing of Abacha in his grave. Even during military regime they have never spared those in power then. Look at the way they are now insulting Prof Aluko, whose principled posture is universally known. Today, they are hailing the maltreatment of the Abacha family when in those days they cried out against similar incidences. They are the very people who would be too glad seeing Babangida in his grave sparing no adjective in describing him. No lies have they not indulged in to dent their names. Yet, they feel pain at the little said of the Obasanjo administration. Even president Obasanjo himself never spared those who came after him since 1979. From Shagari to Buhari and Babangida, he has been knocking them pretty hard. Are they even sparing Abdulsalam and Babangida who helped in bringing him on board? You see, we must be opened minded towards these things. What makes it right for Abacha to be insulted daily in his grave and his family persisted and wrong to point out the lapse of the administration? What gives us the license to be ridiculing Buhari, Babangida, and Shagari but wrong to highlight the defaults of the current dispensation? It tells a lot about us that those who love to be in opposition, insulting and even killing others are those who don’t want to be opposed. Where is the honesty and sincerity of purpose? If it is right to indulge in criticism during military regime, what makes it a misnomer to do so in a democratic dispensation, particularly where there are genuine grounds for doing so? Those who believe that they love Obasanjo and his administration more than we do should answer these and other questions sincerely. If they can’t, they might as well keep their peace.
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