Press Freedom Comes Under Attack In Nigeria!

[ofilis]

http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833

[Ete]

The whole damn thing is ridiculous.  Obasanjo admonished Nigerians at one time to "guard their democracy jealously". Sometimes, this local farmer of a President speaks from his ass.  Is part of democracy not having a free press? If journalists cannot freely do their job in a democratic society without the threat of illegal arrest and unlawful detention, what kind of democracy is that?

What bothers me, is how Nigerians continue to sit by idly and just accept the nonsense perpetrated on them by this hopeless and irresponsible government.  For several months now, Obj has been using his wild dogs (SSS) to harrass law abiding press community members whenever any article which he finds offensive is published. If the stories published are inaccurate, why not allow his own press secretary, spokes-person, press attache, press adviser, and the millions of advisers on press matters that he has on his payroll, spare openly with the 'defaulting' journalists and present facts to debunk the stories published in the papers? Would that not be the normal thing to do?

The useless farmer/hunter kisses ass all over Europe and the US, yet learns absolutely nothing from the leaders of these societies.  When has Obasanjo ever seen President Bush order the FBI to arrest journalists from the NY Times or Washington post for all the antagonistic editorials they write against him (Bush)?

Because of Obasanjo's limited education and extreme lack of enlightenment and quality exposure, he has no appreciation for the press. If Obasanjo had any clue at all, he would understand that the press is a necessary entity in the state because besides information provision, the press does indeed continue education in adulthood.  Obj obviously does not care for adult education which is why he swore a while back never to read any News paper again. Now, what normal adult in leadership refuses to read newspapers? If that is not normal behavior for a leader, then maybe he is CRAZY and we just haven't come to terms with that reality.

I am hoping this piece gets published.  I would be inclined to understand if the admin of this site refuses to publish it for fear of arrest by SSS agents.