Kogi: NEN Wants Liberal News Online Portal Banned, Publisher Arrested Over False Security Alarm
http://www.newsportng.com.ng The Northern Emancipation Network (NEN) has demanded the arrest and prosecution of the publisher of the online portal Liberal News, as well as the banning of the platform.
The call comes after Liberal News published false and malicious information that Governor Yahaya Bello had procured thugs and police operatives to invade Ayingba, Kogi State, to assassinate the Director-General of the Muritala Yakubu Ajaka Gubernatorial Campaign Organization Sheik Ibrahim Jibril and the Youth Leader, Alhaji Ahmed Attah.
The NEN in a statement by its Chairman, Suleiman Abbah argues that it is a criminal offense for a newspaper, whether online or mainstream, to publish unverified reports that could incite unrest and undermine law and order.
The Group accused Liberal News and its publisher of serving the governorship ambition of Murtala Ajaka and intentionally causing discontent and heating up the political climate and called on the government to ban Liberal News and other news outlets that undermine Nigeria’s peace and security through irresponsible publications and actions.
“Obviously commissioned to serve the governorship ambition of Murtala Ajaka, Dayo, the author of the dangerous article and publisher of the portal, recklessly accused the Nigeria police of being detailed to burn down the palatial mansion of Sheikh Jibril and torch the family house of Alh Attah.
“In a blind attempt to drag the judiciary to contempt Dayo wrote that he is in possession of evidence that Yahaya Bello had procured a dubious court order from a pliant judge in Lokoja to justify the as legal backing to assassinate our campaign leadership in the guise they resisted arrest”
He went ahead to accuse Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigerian Police and the Anti- Kidnapping Unit of the FCT Police Command of collaboration in the fictitious assassination plot which is downright unacceptable and must not be tolerated by the Nigerian security agencies,” the NEN said.
The Group said it especially observed that the Liberal News portal and its publisher have not been particularly careful in their reportage of circumstances surrounding the build-up to coming elections in Kogi State, and ended up fanning the embers of discontent and heating up the polity.
“We have all along being hoping that the media would change to being more restrained in reporting on matters that affect the wellbeing and security of the people without resorting to unnecessary overkill.”
Thus we expected the proprietors of the various media outfits, along with their professional bodies like NUJ, Nigerian Guild of Editors and NPAN to regulate themselves and abide by their own rules and etiquette regarding the dissemination and reportage of news of the farmers/herders conflicts. “Alas! The position remains unchanged that whenever matters affecting or arising from Kogi State such as this one are reported or commented upon, the intrinsic bias of these media houses keeps becoming apparent.
“We call on the Federal Government to proscribe the Liberal News portal and all news outlets that make the habit of undermining Nigeria’s peace, security, and peaceful coexistence through unguarded publications and deliberate actions aimed at fomenting unrest and engendering conflicts. Individuals associated with such organizations that incite others to violations must be decisively dealt with.
“The Federal Government must, as a matter of urgency, use its powers to call media operators to order in their reporting of all security situations in the country, and to eschew the slanted reporting of events with greater bias against a particular political leader or party as witnessed in the report of the Liberal News portal.
“Editorial policies and restraints imposed by ordinary decency and sanity must not be abandoned by the media establishment for sensational and often biased reporting that only inflame tensions in the country,” Abbah said.
