CPJ worried by attack on newspaper

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about a recent attack on the independent daily newspaper 'ThisDay', and "about the overall deterioration of press freedom standards in Nigeria" in a letter dated 13 April to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

On 4 April, it said, armed members of the State Security Service (SSS) invaded the offices of 'ThisDay' in Abuja, sealed its gate for three hours and roughed up many employees. CPJ said that, according to its Nigerian sources, the SSS justified their actions by claiming that the newspaper's offices contained "subversive and incriminating documents".

This was the latest in a spate of recent attacks on the independent press in Nigeria, according to the CPJ, which said that on 19 January, over 50 police stormed the International Press Center (IPC) in Lagos, arrested many people and ransacked offices. Sources in Lagos told CPJ the raid was intended to capture suspected terrorists whom the police believed were
attending a press conference in the IPC's hall by the Oodua Liberation Movement, which is distinct from the outlawed Oodua People's Congress. Those arrested were released without charge hours later.

On March 9, CPJ said, Bayelsa State security forces swooped down on newspaper stands in Yenagoa, the state capital, and seized copies of 'The Independent Monitor' and the daily 'Banner News' in an apparent reaction to a report titled "134 Bayelsa, Rivers Natives Killed in Kaduna Sharia Riots" carried by both papers.

Police also arrested publisher Union Oyadongha of Banner News, saying later that they wanted him to explain how he knew that those killed in the riots were natives of Bayelsa and Rivers states, the committee said. According to a report, which the CPJ said it could not confirm, he was released on March 16.