Opeyemi Adamolekun, the Executive Director of ‘Enough is Enough Nigeria’ (EIE), has scored Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu low regarding press freedom and the protection of journalists.
Speaking in an interview on News Central’s Jasiri, she noted that under his administration, as well as the previous one, there has been an increase in the arrest and harassment of journalists.
According to the Press Attack Tracker, press freedom has been particularly repressed in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Borno, Delta, and Kwara states. The tracker has recorded 110 verified attacks on the media so far, with male journalists being the target in 83.49% of cases and female journalists in 9.17%.
When asked about the key indicators to look at while addressing the shrinking civic space in Nigeria, Adamolekun said, “One of the ones we could start with is that children are now being arrested. The children who were part of the demonstrators protesting against hunger were thrown in jail, with some of them aged between 14-17 years, minors.
“Even more disturbing is that the Nigerian government has refused to charge them to court. So because they haven’t charged them to court, they continue to stay in jail,” she said.
Opeyemi Adamolekun aired her views on the ten #EndBadGovernance protesters who were charged with treason and granted bail of N10 million each. According to court documents, they are accused of trying to overthrow the government simply by holding placards.
News Central reported that a High Court in Abuja set the bail at N10 million for each of these ten protesters, who are alleged to have attempted to challenge President Bola Tinubu’s administration between August 1 and 4 this year.
“This is the point about trying to criminalise protests. You do that and then say protesters are restricted to certain areas. You are alleging these things on people who came out to say they’re hungry and you’re arresting children.”
She said this current administration understands the civic space like no other administration.
“Tinubu understands protests. He has funded protests. You have people working with him who are civic actors,” she said.
Watch the full interview below:
