Army continues intimidation of Daily Trust

Soldiers in two pick-up trucks carried out a stop-and-search operation Sunday night at a road junction leading to the Daily Trust head office in Abuja, in continuation of the assault on some newspapers.The Army action against Daily Trust and several other newspapers began early Friday when troops seized delivery vans and newspaper copies, and also […]

Soldiers in two pick-up trucks carried out a stop-and-search operation Sunday night at a road junction leading to the Daily Trust head office in Abuja, in continuation of the assault on some newspapers.
The Army action against Daily Trust and several other newspapers began early Friday when troops seized delivery vans and newspaper copies, and also detained many drivers.
The clampdown eased on Sunday, as Daily Trust circulated in most places unimpeded except in Minna, Niger State.
But in the evening on Sunday, soldiers returned to the road leading to Daily Trust office and conducted searches on vehicles moving out of the company’s premises.
In Minna, soldiers impeded the circulation of Daily Trust and some other newspapers for the fourth day.
Soldiers from the 31 Artillery Brigade stormed Total, a designated venue for coordinating the distribution of newspapers, harassing vendors and people who went to pick copies.
They came to the newspaper depots at about 6am and warned distributors and vendors not to sell any of the Daily Trust, Leadership and the Nation newspaper titles or risk drastic measures if caught.
They also kept vigil at the distribution centres and took over newspaper distribution points and vendors’ stands in Minna till around noon.
The chairman, Niger State Newspaper Vendors and Distributors Association, Mr. Festus Elijah, said they were warned not to sell any copy of the three newspapers.
“We have been warned since Friday and we are powerless, you may say they will not come again and they are here. The sad thing is that it is only in Niger State that the military are still laying siege,” he said.
When contacted, Niger Information Commissioner Danladi Ndayebo said the state government is making efforts to get across to the military on the matter.
Meanwhile, normalcy returned to the various newsstands in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Osogbo, Akure, and Ado Ekiti yesterday as newspaper vendors and distributors carried out their sales without hindrance.
The unusual presence of soldiers at Oke Padre, Ibadan, the main circulation centre for various national dailies since Friday, was no longer visible as at yesterday morning.
Also yesterday, the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI) expressed “grave concern the persistent media assault by the Nigerian government.”
It condemned the ambush of newspaper delivery vans, seizure and destruction of newspapers by the military “under the dubious guise of protecting national security.”
A statement by the Executive Committee of the institute said the government was notorious for its assault on the free press but that the event of last week’s “mindless and coordinated assault on some selected newspapers across the country is a new low”.