Nigeria’s government wants to gag the press
A draft law echoes the old days of dictatorship
IF NIGERIAN JOURNALISTS have misgivings about the government’s plan to grab more power to fine them and close media houses, it is with good reason. Many remember how in President Muhammadu Buhari’s first days in office as a military dictator in 1984, he passed Decree 4, which allowed him to close down newspaper houses and jail journalists who criticised his junta, ridiculed its officials or published information the state deemed false.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “A bonfire of satire”
From the June 26th 2021 edition
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