Sesugh Akume, the ANRP House of Representatives candidate for Sankera released the following statement today, 7 January 2019, following the brazen attacks by the military on offices of ‘Daily Trust’ newspaper

‘The military invasion of ‘Daily Trust’ offices in Maiduguri, Abuja, and Lagos yesterday 6 January, where they laid siege, banished the journalists, ransacked the workplaces, confiscated their computers, intimidated, and detained their staff in military barracks, 2 of them — Uthman Abubakar and Ibrahim Sawab — still held (if they’re still alive) at an unknown location and without any communication with their families, employers, and other associates, is only but a manifestation of the continued suppression and repression of the media and civic voices by this regime.
‘It is disheartening that in almost 20 years continuous civil rule in Nigeria, we have regime where the military invades civilian spaces and attacks citizens and the media, with impunity. This bears an eerie resemblance, and appears a reenactment of the era when the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari, a brutal head of state, exhibited such atrocities hiding under Decrees 2 and 4. 

‘Whereas we are in a civil rule where freedom of press is guaranteed by the constitution, which also guarantees subordination of the military to civil authority, which also forbids military deployment without authorisation by the National Assembly, and so on, it is clear that under Muhammadu Buhari, today no longer a military dictator, there is an outright disregard for the sanctity of the rule of law, with same oppression, suppression, and repression using the military.

‘This military attack on ‘Daily Trust’ is roundly denounced. The suppression, repression, intimidation agenda of this regime and their unconscionable flouting the laws of the land, is unacceptable and has to be resisted by all. 

‘The tasteless and halfhearted notice that the federal government has ordered a military withdrawal is denounced. A military withdrawal, (medicine after death) with no assurance of consequences for the offenders, and mechanisms to forestall a repeat is all in vain and vexatious.
‘Clearly, we have made little or no progress in the last 20 years in imbibing the culture and norms of a democracy, as well as building institutions that understand their responsibilities and remits. This is a task we must undertake with all sense of urgency.’

Sesugh Akume Campaign

www.sesughakume.org