Hmm…

I don’t know who to point this finger at; whether the government, a certain cabal of people, the weather? But something is happening in Nigeria and …

Let’s take a look at the issues.

First, why do journalists keep getting arrested?

Not even funny, but someone appears to be attempting the DMX challenge with the number of Nigerian journalists they can arrest for literally doing their jobs.

There was Agba Jalingo, the publisher of CrossRiverWatch, who was arrested for exposing that the Cross River Governor – Ben Ayade gave a microfinance bank in the state ₦ 500 million for its establishment, without any activity following the payout.

There was also Jones Abiri, a journalist who suffered through illegal detention by the DSS for two years before being released, then re-arrested sometime in May for his alleged links to rebels in the Niger Delta.

Yele Sowore, the publisher of SaharaReporters and admittedly the convener of the #RevolutionNow protests, also remains under arrest, despite a court previously ordering his release.

Fisayo Soyombo

had to go into hiding to avoid arrest by officials of the Nigerian Prisons Service who were out to get him for his expose on the rot in the Nigerian prison systems.

It’s almost as if someone doesn’t want these journalists speaking out against injustice. But who could it be?

Then this whole ‘Operation Positive Identification’ agenda.

So get this — we’re not in apartheid South Africa, this isn’t 1619 and no one needs to walk about with freedom papers, but the Nigerian military thinks it’s a sound step to take, requiring citizens to carry forms of ID on them while armed military men check to make sure they’re really Nigerian.

iguodala confused

Just me, or did someone just say ‘bloody civilian’?

And now we have a minister wanting the Nigerian government to regulate social media.

According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Federal Government is working on how to inject sanity into social media which is apparently out of control.

You don’t say Big Brother.

So, the government will look to adopt means to avoid sanction broadcast stations that breach the country’s broadcast codes so sanity can be restored to Nigeria,

I’m sensing a pattern here.

Press intimidation, freedom of speech suppression, military incursion. Could it be, are we in… is this 1984, military regime Nigeria all over again?

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