Tinubu: We May Consider Journalists Expulsion From The Presidential Villa As Ambivalence – Serap
According to Vanguard, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) called on President Bola Tinubu to use his “good office and leadership to immediately end the illegal ban on 25 journalists and media persons from photographing the Presidential Villa and restore the accreditation of those involved”.
SERAP called on him to “publicly refer officials to the presidential villa to allow journalists and the media to do their work freely and fulfill their constitutional duty to hold those in power accountable.
According to reports, the Federal Government recently revoked the accreditation of about 25 journalists after they failed to operate at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The banned journalists include journalists from Galaxy TV, Ben TV, MITV, ITV Abuja, Prompt, ONTV, and Liberty.
In a letter dated August 26, 2023, and signed by the Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “Denying these journalists and media persons from entering the Presidential Villa prevents them from fulfilling their lawful constitutional responsibility.
The letter read in part: “We would be grateful if the recommended measures were taken within 48 hours of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.
Nigerians may consider the expulsion of the journalists from the presidential villa as your government’s ambivalence towards media freedom and citizens’ rights of access to information and participation in their own government.
The legal obligations imposed on your government to ensure and uphold media freedom and human rights and facilitate public access to the presidential villa as a public trust outweigh any purported ‘security concerns and overcrowding of the press gallery area.’
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