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NIGERIA MEDIA MONITOR
May 2, 2003

· RADIO BOSS ARRESTED IN DELTA
· ALIMI TASKS FOREIGN MEDIA ON FAIRNESS
· INVASION OF RADIO STATION: DETECTIVES BEGIN MANHUNT
FOR OFFENDERS.
· NIGERIAN MEDIA URGED TO HELP CONSOLIDATE GAINS OF
DEMOCRACY
· JOURNALISTS BARRED FROM INEC'S MAKURDI OFFICE
· THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

RADIO BOSS ARRESTED IN DELTA
Daily Independent, April 24, 2003
Police authorities in Delta State have arrested the
proprietor of a private radio station and four others
over their alleged role in the broadcast where the
Alliance for Democracy governorship candidate, Chief
Great Ogboru, was declared winner of Saturday's
elections.

Spokesman of the state's police command, Mr. Victor
Obasuyi, who told newsmen about the arrest, said
Ogboru might also be invited for questioning over the
matter.

A private radio station Jeremi FM (JFM) in Warri had
announced Ogboru as the winner of the election before
the results were officially announced by the state's
Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Awwal Shehu,
resulting in jubilation among Alliance for Democracy
(AD) party supporters in Warri.

The situation later snowballed into a near crisis
situation as some persons capitalized on the situation
to rob passersby of their money.

Ogboru had at a press conference held in Abuja
yesterday denied declaring himself winner of the
elections. The AD governorship candidate, who
maintained that the elections were marred by
irregularities, however, vowed to challenge the
results through constitutional means. He also denies
being quizzed by the State Security Service over the
broadcast.

ALIMI TASKS FOREIGN MEDIA ON FAIRNESS
The Punch, April 22, 2003
The Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Taiwo
Alimi, had reacted to the reportage of the last
Saturday's Presidential and gubernatorial elections by
foreign media and described it as a "deliberate
pattern of negative reportage."

In a statement made available to our correspondents in
Lagos, Alimi said that the monitoring of the British
Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America and the
Cable News Network and other foreign media show that
their correspondents have not related a sufficient
understanding of the problems and situation of
Nigeria.

The VON director general called for a balance of views
to allow witness and viewers to come to a better
understanding of the issues at stake adding that
factual journalism demands that it's practitioners
exhibit a sense of fairness and accuracy.

He implored the foreign journalists to restrain
themselves and keep their politics to themselves in
the interest of their home country.

INVASION OF RADIO STATION: DETECTIVES BEGIN MANHUNT
FOR OFFENDERS.
Vanguard, April 22, 2003
Warri: Security agents in Delta State have begun a
manhunt for the brains behind last Sunday's invasion
of a private radio station, Jeremi FM station ,Adeje,
near Effurun, Delta State. Already, the suspected
leader of the invading youths has been apprehended by
men of the State Security Service (SSS). The suspect
(names withheld) was arrested in Warri, from where he
was whisked to the state headquarters of the SSS
located in the Government Reservation Area (GRA) in
Asaba.

Armed youths had invaded the station last Sunday,
where they reportedly forced the presenter on duty to
announce Alliance for Democracy (AD) governorship
candidates, Chief Great Ogboru as the winner of last
Saturday's polls in the state. The youths, about 30
in number, stormed the station in buses at about 7.30
a.m on Sunday.

The presenter announced the victory at gun point, a
development which resulted into wild jubilation by
admirers of Ogboru in virtually all the 25 local
government council in the state.

MEDIA GROUP ADVISES WINNERS, LOSERS IN POLLS
The Guardian, April 23, 2003
The winners of last Saturday's governorship elections
have been admonished to manage their successes
appropriately as the electorate will continue to hold
them accountable to their promises, particularly in
four years' time.

The Media Monitor Group which gave the advise also had
words of caution for the losers: "They should be
willing to accept defeat in good faith as their
individual and collective sacrifices towards the
survival of democracy and stability of the Nigerian
nation."

The group, which was set up by the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with the Nigerian
Guild of editors (NGE), gave the advice in a statement
on Monday.

Tagged: "General Elections: Victory for Democracy",
the document endorsed by Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, NGE
president and her NUJ counterpart, Smart Adeyemi
confirmed that officials of the Independent National
Electoral Commission were more responsive and diligent
during the April 19 elections than in the first polls
held on April 12, 2003.

Established to monitor the April 12, 19 and May 3
elections, Media Monitoring Group is made up of
editors and senior journalists and its composition
serves as the media's contributions to ensuring that
democracy is preserved, nurtured and strengthened for
the sustainable development of the country.

The group promises to release a comprehensive and
unbiased report of the events during the elections
soon.

NIGERIAN MEDIA URGED TO HELP CONSOLIDATE GAINS OF
DEMOCRACY.
Vanguard, April 25, 2003

Solid Minerals Development Minister, Mrs. Modupe
Adelaja has charged the Nigerian media to wake up to
the challenges of consolidating the gains of democracy
in the last four years and fight all the negative
reportage of the nation by foreign media
practitioners.

Mrs. Adelaja also maintained that the time is ripe for
media practitioners in the country to unify the nation
which is vast in many areas by publicizing those
factors that would continue to hold the country
together.

In her words, "there are several gains of a democratic
Nigeria that the media in Nigeria can write about and
show the world.

The current attempt by the foreign media to rubbish
Africa's most important single democracy should be
resisted by the media.

It will be difficult for government to be telling the
world all the good things about Nigeria at all
instances while we have one of the most active media
environments here in Nigeria.

It was shocking that when the CNN came to cover
elections in Nigeria what they were beaming to the
world are pictures that included waste dumps.

This merely presupposes that they only made up their
minds that they were coming to report negative things
about Nigeria.

JOURNALISTS BARRED FROM INEC'S MAKURDI OFFICE
The Punch, April 23, 2003
Journalists were on Monday morning barred from
entering the premises of the Independent National
Electoral Commission's headquarters in Makurdi, Benue
State.

Also, passers-by along the Secretariat road where the
office is located, were allegedly severely beaten by
armed policemen.

The mobile policemen stationed at the gate of the
commission's office ordered about five journalists who
were accredited by INEC to monitor the polls in the
state to go back or face severe consequences.

One of the armed police officers said they had
instructions not to allow anybody into the premises of
the commission. They warned the journalists to go
back in their own interest.

Some of the journalists who spoke to our correspondent
shortly after the incident said even when they
presented the INEC accreditation card issued to them,
the armed policemen became more furious and demanded
that they leave the area immediately.

Speaking to our correspondent on the issue, the Police
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Bode Fakeye (DSP), said
the mobile police officers were not authorized to
harass people, adding that they were posted there to
protect the premises of the commission.

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
Nigerian Tribune, April 24, 2003
The media aids development and helps to quicken the
pace of development anywhere in the world.

The media can be seen as a conscientizing weapon not
only for development but also for revolution and for
setting of agenda for non-directional societies,
organizations, and institutions.

The media has a lot to do with the present status of
Nigeria's democracy and not only for democracy but for
progress, human rights, development and liberal
thinking. The media, over the years, has been in the
vanguard of increasing the intelligibility of messages
among the diverse ethnic groups in small and big
societies of the world. The question that arises in
our imagination is how can we use the media to protect
our nascent democracy?

Today, the media in Nigeria has made other Nigerians
to know the thought patterns of the Hausa, Yoruba,
Igbo minorities and the other two hundred and fifty
ethnic groups in the country. Through the media, the
myth of those who hold on to the monopoly of power,
money and sex are destroyed to smithereens in our very
eyes.

Through our media, our dishonourable leaders who
pretended to fight for the masses are exposed as
rogues who tie their pockets, fix their own salaries
as well as steal in the name of God or Allah. And
when they are about to be caught, they resort into
chanting religious creeds to hide their sordid deeds.

The media as an instrument to shape our present life
in our nascent democracy is outstanding. What the
media preaches through newspapers, radio, television
etc influences our attitudes, manners, speeches and
daily habits.

The media should continue to expose those who in order
to convert their, glaring fraud and inadequacies, stir
up crisis where there supposed to be none in our
democracy.

Finally, the media should expose those who, in order
to seek relevance in our democracy, generate
controversy here and there or cover up glaring truths
with distorted hypothesis. They must be found and
exposed. The media should be the vanguard for the
fight against primitive rigidity in all levels of our
government and among our people.

Danladi Captain Jajan wrote in from the University of
Jos, Plateau State.

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