Without doubt, Premium Times, once a reputable online news medium, is fast sliding into gutter journalism and constituting a threat to peace, stability and national security. It is beyond comprehension and commonsense, the attempt by Premium Times to stand logic on its head by propagating falsehood in defense of secessionists, anarchists and stooges of vested interests (local and foreign), whose primary aim is to destabilise our country.
The Premium Times editorial of December 13, 2019, titled: ”Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism” is nothing but a smokescreen of a well-scripted and oiled propaganda by those who feel threatened by the incorruptible leadership of the Department of State Service (DSS). Indeed, the DSS is currently led by a seasoned intelligence officer, whose record of service is as white as snow and whose professional competence is acclaimed, such that even his worst critics and those who are mortally afraid of the consequences of their actions can attest to his effective, efficient and prudent leadership.
The opening paragraph of the pejorative advertorial gave Premium Times out as a willing platform in the firm grips of those who are hell-bent on overthrowing a democratically elected government. Perhaps they reason that what they could not legally obtain through the ballot, they can steal via civil unrests, as they desperately plot to truncate our democracy, not minding what a destabilised Nigeria will portend for Africa and the world at large. They deliberately ascribed the title of General to President Muhammadu Buhari, to portray him as a dictator, in support of a similar malicious and unpatriotic mudslinging by Punch newspapers in an earlier advertorial.
However, Premium Times, Punch and a scanty other gonzo news media must accept the fact that the era of brown envelope journalism is over and that the straw of corruption that they clutched onto for survival has long been discarded by the anticorruption machinery of the current administration. The government of the day cannot be swayed by propaganda nor will it succumb to media blackmail and extortion in a bid to look good, because it stands firmly on the plinth of the mandate it enjoys from the overwhelming majority.
From incontrovertible records of performance on all parameters, Yusuf Magaji Bichi should be celebrated by the likes of Premium Times and Punch Newspapers, rather than being vilified. Every decent media outfit should stand tall in defense of the truth, rather than try to obscure it. Since Bichi’s assumption as the Director General of the DSS, Nigeria has witnessed increased intelligence gathering, effective synergy among security agencies and reduction in crimes across the length and breadth of the country.
I must wholly reiterate that Yusuf Magaji Bichi is a well-known and respected actor in our country’s intelligence community and beyond, and anyone who has had dealings with him can attest to the fact that he is a man of pristine integrity, candour, tolerance and above all, a fervid adherent of due process and the rule of law. Bichi has demonstrated commendable competence and dexterity in boosting our internal security, in adherence to international protocols and best practices. Under the watch of Mr. Bichi, the DSS has attained its highest standards of professionalism and forthrightness.
The upsurge in mass mobilization and the clamour by some mischievous elements (the league which Premium Times seeks to align with), to forcefully overthrow our democratically elected government, must be resisted by all patriotic Nigerians.
If I may ask, where was Premium Times when recalcitrant elements were audaciously calling for a change of government through illegitimate and violent means, when there are constitutionally guaranteed channels of doing so? I challenge Premium Times to mention one sovereign state where its government will sit aloof amid obvious threats to national security. The cases of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are clear proofs of how far even the so-called advanced democracies can go to curtail any threat to national peace and security.
Anarchists like Omoyele Sowore and Nnamdi Kanu deserve no freedom for themselves. Their collective actions have led to the premature deaths of many promising youths. Only recently, two very senior police officers were burnt to death in Ofifite, Anambra State, by elements dangerously inspired to carry arms against the state; in other words, by the duo of Nnamdi Kanu and Omoyele Sowore. Nnamdi Kanu, Omoyele Sowore and their likes are willing vessels of destabilization, enjoying the sponsorship of vested interests. However, they are not alone on their journey to Golgotha, because those that were massively rejected by Nigerians in the last general elections are frantically cheering them on.
Premium Times lied in it publication, when it asserted that, “We are also greatly worried that the Presidency is speaking from both sides of its mouth on an incident that has angered persons of goodwill the world over. While, on one hand, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, claimed that the presidency did not order the re-arrest of Sowore, he, on the other, sought to justify the assault on him inside the court premises by stating that the relationship between Sowore and the SSS should not come as a surprise to the public, as his call for ‘revolution’ (even when sowore had clearly defined the civil, and certainly not armed, parameters of this group’s protest) had made him a target of the secret police.” It is indisputable that sowore, in his many speeches and media interactions, has threatened public safety, peaceful co-existence and national unity. His Revolution Now! Movement is a form of insurrection; surreptitiously aimed at torpedoing a democratically elected government. No serious security organization, be it the CIA, FBI, MI6, Mossad, KGB etc will tolerate a call for insurrection; worse so, for a country like Nigeria that is already bedeviled by Boko Haram insurgency, armed banditry etc.
Recent media blackmails and sponsored editorials to smear the DSS and its Director General will do Nigeria no good. We can only now easily identify those who are on the payroll of our country’s enemies. I am equally aware that they have found collaborators who reside in far away London and New York, to champion their crusade of destabilizing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration by total balkanization of Nigeria, through championing the complete breakdown of law and order, thereby compelling citizens to resort to self-help amidst anarchy and anomie.
The DSS should actually be commended for nipping current and emerging national threats in the bud. The bravery and professional conducts of the men and women of the DSS, who continuously put their lives on the line to keep the nation safe, must be applauded by all.
Perhaps, Premium Times is unaware of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Asari Dokubo (Appellant) Vs Federal Republic of Nigeria (Respondents) S.C. 208/2006, where it ruled that, ”…where national security is threatened or there is the real likelihood of it being threatened, human rights or individuals rights of those responsible take second place. Human rights or individual rights must be suspended until the national security can be protected or well taken care of.”
I challenge Premium Times to publish pictures or videos of the imaginary invasion of the courtroom by DSS Agents, not the staged drama by Sowore and his gang of miscreants. And if they cannot substantiate their allegations, they should apologize to the DSS and the entire nation for promoting falsehood; and subsequently retract their steps from their imminent journey to self-destruction.
I therefore make a passionate call to my fellow compatriots, to always put the interest of our country over and above other primordial considerations, and to be mindful of their criticisms of the security agencies whenever national security is at stake.
Let us not forget the reverberating statement of the then General Muhammadu Buhari to wit, ”Nigeria is the only country we have, we must remain here and salvage it together.” It should spur all true patriots on an eternal vigil as the defenders of democracy, human rights, rule of law, justice and 8for all.
Dr Maru, a medical doctor cum human and health rights activist, writes from Abuja and can be reached via [email protected]
