JANUARY 20, 2005 Posted February 7, 2005 Eastern PilotCENSORED State Security Service (SSS) agents raided newsstands and harassed vendors selling copies of the local tabloid Eastern Pilot in the southeastern city of Enugu. The SSS also detained and questioned Clement Egbuche, the Enugu chairman of the Newspapers Vendors’ Association of Nigeria, and searched his office,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the recent violent attack on journalists by government security forces. On Tuesday, January 4, police acting as security at a meeting of the National Executive Council of Your Excellency’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the capital, Abuja, assaulted at least 10 journalists who were covering the meeting.
New York, September 15, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the continued detention of Isaac Umunna, an editorial consultant to the private, Lagos-based weekly Global Star as well as the general editor of Africa Today, a monthly news magazine based in London. On September 8, members of Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS)…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by an alarming government attack against the Lagos-based news magazine Insider Weekly, one that is fundamentally at odds with the most basic democratic principles. Members of the State Security Service (SSS) recently raided the newspaper, arrested employees, seized equipment, censored the news, and shut its…
Although the number of journalists in prison in Africa at the end of 2003 was lower than the previous year, African journalists still faced a multitude of difficulties, including government harassment and physical assaults. Many countries in Africa retain harsh press laws. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, some…
Since the death of Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), brought an end to Angola’s civil war in 2002, the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has become somewhat more tolerant of the independent press. Journalists say the climate has improved, but problems…
In Nigeria’s first successful transfer between civilian administrations since independence in 1960, President Olusegun Obasanjo was re-elected in a landslide victory that also saw his ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) make significant gains in polls across the country. Despite the relatively peaceful conduct of the election, opposition parties and election observers alleged widespread fraud, irregularities,…
New York, August 27, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns recent attempts by the House of Assembly in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state to expel journalist Haruna Acheneje from the state, which is located on the country’s southern coast. Acheneje is a correspondent based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom’s capital, for the national daily The…
New York, April 16, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urges Nigeria’s newly elected lawmakers to pass the Freedom of Information Bill, which has stalled in the Lower House of Parliament for more than three years. The bill, first proposed in December 1999 and modeled after the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, is endorsed by…