Atiku condemns closure of AIT, says free press in danger

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has said the closure of AIT and Raypower FM owned by the DAAR Group by the federal government is a throwback to the era of Decree 4 during which Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as head of state shackled the media.

Atiku warned that the suspension of the licenses of the DAAR Group and shutting down of its stations reveal a dangerous dark anti-media agenda by the Buhari administration to stifle critical voices in the country, adding that
the administration’s hostility to free press cannot be hidden, despite its pretended commitment to democratic values.

According to Atiku, any situation where the media cannot freely criticize the government poses a grave danger to democracy, asserting that the draconian action against AIT and Ray Power by the NBC is only a confirmation of government’s intolerance of free and critical press.

The PDP presidential candidate further explained that you cannot have a vibrant democratic order where the press is under totalitarian threats from a supposed democratic government, adding that if the press is not free, the situation will inevitably lead to dictatorship and endanger the struggle to entrench democracy in Nigeria.

The Waziri Adamawa said it is impossible to love democratic values and hate free press at the same time, noting that “democracy is not a government of kings or lords who feel superior to the people and is not accountable.”

Atiku warned that the war against the media is the first stage to turn the nation’s democracy into full blown dictatorship.

“Dictators want to be worshipped rather than being criticised and held accountable for performance or actions. That is why they find democratic order an inconvenience to their sinister desires to kill free speech,” he further noted.

He said if Nigerians don’t defend free speech and free press, their own freedoms might be ultimately jeopardized by the government’s intolerance of criticisms.