The proprietor of Daar Communications PLC, Raymond Dokpesi, has stated that Monday’s decision by the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to bar one of its subsidiaries, Africa Independent Television, from covering his activities was an attempt by the former military Head of State to bring back the era of Decree 4.
Mr. Dokpesi said Mr. Buhari lacks the power to stop the AIT from covering his activities, as doing so would amount to breaking the law. Mr. Buhari as Head of State promulgated Decree 4, tagged Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree 4 on March 29, 1984.
The Decree was promulgated to punish authors of statements and reports that exposed the Buhari military administration and/or its officials to ridicule or contempt. Many journalists were arrested and two, Mr Tunde Thopson and Nduka Irabor were jailed under the draconian decree. Mr. Buhari’s party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Tuesday reversed the decision of the president-elect to stop AIT, saying all accredited media houses are free to report on his activities.
But speaking exclusively to Premium Times Tuesday, Mr. Dokpesi stated that Mr. Buhari should be reminded that he cannot return Nigeria to the era of Decree 4. “I am sure that the President-elect needs to be reminded of Decree 4, and he should be clearly reminded that section 32 of the constitution makes it mandatory for the media to hold public officials accountable to the people,” he said.
He also said Section 39 of the constitution equally grants Nigerians the freedom of expression and to hold opinion. “The president-elect said that he does not want to be covered by AIT, but AIT has a responsibility to the Nigerian public to report the things that are happening,” he said.
“There are three national networks available for national coverage in Nigeria, the NTA, AIT and Silverbirds. You cannot stop a foremost private station from reporting in Nigeria, it brings us back to Decree 4 era.”
Mr. Dokpesi also acknowledged that Mr. Buhari may have taken his decision based on the documentaries ran by the station during the electioneering campaign.