Governor Akpabio’s handpicked members of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly have arrogated to themselves the powers constitutionally vested in the Nigerian Press Council by seeking to probe media houses in the state.
Governor Akpabio’s handpicked members of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly have arrogated to themselves the powers constitutionally vested in the Nigerian Press Council by seeking to probe media houses in the state.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
The ‘rubber stamp’ Assemblymen, who are appendages of the state governor, are set to probe newspapers in circulation in the state, sources in the state say.
In a letter addressed to national correspondents and sent to the Correspondents’ Chapel office, the lawmakers asked newspapers’ representatives to appear this afternoon before an ad-hoc committee investigating the activities of newspapers in circulation.
The formerly energetic Akwa Ibom Press has grown docile and compromised, losing the bite expected of the fourth estate, making it easy for the government to shove it into its pockets.
Sahara Reporters had disclosed that journalists in the state were bribed to the tune of N100,000 each prior to the 2011 elections to ensure that the government was not embarrassed in its rigging plans.
The letter from the House of Assembly, signed by the Committee Clerk, Mrs. U. P. Idungafa reads: “Your newspaper/medium is requested to appear before the above-named committee with the following:
• “Evidence of registration with the Registry, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information and Communications as required by the law.
• “Names and addresses of proprietors of the newspaper together with occupation and residence as required by the law.
• “An office address within Akwa Ibom State where the newspaper has as its operational base.”
The House is dominated by Governor Godswill Akpabio’s People’s Democratic Party, except in the Uyo constituency. Previously, in September last year, it set up a similar seven-member committee to investigate the activities of newspapers circulating in the state.
An observer dismissed the legislators as a ‘bunch of ‘idle men’ who simply want to appease their masters at all cost.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });