Media Rights Agenda (MRA) Monday condemned the reported approval by the Department of State Services (DSS) of a list of 10 media houses whose reporters would be allowed to cover the trial of the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu’s trial was scheduled to take place Monday at a Federal High Court, Abuja.
The DSS was reported to have released a list of accredited media organizations comprising The nation newspaper, Daily Independent newspaper, The Herald newspaper, ThisDay newspaper, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Channels Television, the Africa Independent Television (AIT), TVC Communications, the online newspaper Premium Times, and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
However, in a statement issued in Lagos, MRA’s programme director, Mr. Ayode Longe, described it as an abuse of power and an affront to media freedom.
He said: “The DSS has no power under any law or regulation to determine which media organizations should be allowed to cover proceedings in a court of law. Its arrogation of media accreditation powers to itself, thereby arbitrarily preventing dozens of media organisations from covering those judicial proceedings is clearly unlawful and unconstitutional.
“Its purported accreditation of 10 media houses to cover the trial of Mr. Kanu is without doubt an abuse of power designed to intimidate the media and possibly the court. It undermines the fairness of the trial as guaranteed by the constitution.
“Even if there is a legitimate reason to restrict the number of journalists that should cover the trial for any reason whatsoever, besides the fact that the DSS has no authority under the law to carry out any accreditation of media organisations for such a purpose, the fact that it is behind the prosecution of Mr. Kanu before the court and therefore has a vested interest in the outcome of the trial, makes it the worst possible agency to determine those media organisations that should cover the proceedings and which media houses should not be allowed to cover the trial”.
