New York, October 17, 2007— The publisher of a private newspaper in southern Nigeria, arrested last week by men suspected by local journalists to be agents of the State Security Service, was charged with sedition on Tuesday over a story critical of a local state governor, according to news reports. Jerome Imeime of southern Akwa…
New York, October 5, 2007—Two German independent filmmakers, arrested last month while filming in volatile, oil-rich southern Nigeria, today pleaded not guilty to five counts of endangering state security, according to news reports and local journalists. A Nigerian federal high court in the capital, Abuja, released on bail freelance journalist Florian Alexander Opitz and cinematographer…
JUNE 27, 2007 EventsCENSORED Fifteen armed men stormed the printing plant of the private weekly Events in the capital city of Uyo and seized about 5,000 copies of the newspaper, according to local journalists and news reports. The attack occurred in the morning, just before the distribution and sale of the paper, publisher Jerome Imeime…
New York, June 22, 2007—Nigeria’s leading independent broadcast network says it will take the government to court next week after authorities demolished three new station facilities in the capital, Abuja. African Independent Television (AIT) plans to sue for damages after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a local government entity, last week bulldozed without warning three…
New York, May 25, 2007—A journalist and a dozen staffers of a public broadcaster in southwestern Oyo State were injured on Wednesday when armed supporters of a faction of the ruling PDP party ransacked the station, according to local journalists and news reports. The attack was apparently prompted by the station’s announcement that local elections…
MAY 1, 2007 Posted May 7, 2007 Dare Folorunso, Ondo State Radiovision Corporation ATTACKED Folorunso, a camera operator for the Ondo State Radiovision Corporation (OSRC), was assaulted by a dozen police officers after a police inspector accused him of filming an offensive shot of her during a May Day celebration in a sports stadium in…
APRIL 17, 2007 Posted April 27, 2007 African Independent Television Ray Power FM HARASSED, CENSORED Agents of the presidential State Security Service (SSS), backed by police, raided the studios of the private African Independent Television (AIT) in the capital Abuja, pulled a paid political program off the air and seized tapes of all commercially sponsored…
NIGERIA President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempt to amend the constitution so he could seek a third term in the April 2007 election galvanized opponents and stoked political tensions and violence. Media critical of the president’s move found themselves the targets of harassment by security services. But the climate for all media worsened, and attacks on the…
Your Excellency: We are writing to urge that you use all of your influence to ensure a transparent and thorough investigation into the recent murder of veteran award-winning journalist Godwin Agbroko in Lagos. The murder, which federal police officials have characterized as an assassination, casts a deep chill on journalists reporting the news in Nigeria in the run-up to April’s historic presidential election.