‘Clamp down on newspapers dangerous for democracy’

Politicians in Bauchi State have described as dangerous and dictatorial, attempts by the military to intimidate some newspapers in the country by disrupting their circulation.

They said the action shows dictatorial tendencies and dictatorship in a democracy is more dangerous than military dictatorship.

A former minister of police affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Yakubu Lame, who spoke to newsmen in Bauchi yesterday, described the action as a “most dangerous thing” to happen in a democracy, noting, “Once you do that, you are showing some tendency of dictatorship and you can’t have dictatorship in a democracy”.

He said: “It must be stopped by patriotic Nigerians, and I believe Nigerians have the capacity to do something about it”. He urged every Nigerian to stand against it.

Another politician, Mallam Ali Wakili, a former Comptroller of Customs who is eyeing the Bauchi South Senatorial Zone seat said by the action, Nigeria is going back to the “dark days” of military dictatorship.

“I am thinking that if there is anything offensive against the state, the State Security Service and uniformed forces should intervene but not for the military to come and seize newspapers”, he said.

A PDP stakeholder, Mallam Mohammed Sogiji, also said the clampdown on the media is undemocratic.

“This is totally undemocratic and I want the media to take legal action against whoever is responsible. It is very tragic under a civilian administration. If the president is not involved in this condemnable act he should call them to order urgently before they ruin the democratic government,” he said.