NGE Statement On EFCC Invasion Of The Sun
The Nigerian Guild of Editors received with shock news of the invasion
of the premises of the SUN Publishing Limited by heavily armed EFCC
operatives in the early hours of June 12, 2017.
The fierce looking operatives prevented staff of the organisation from either entering or
leaving the premises of the company and disrupted the circulation
processes.
The unwarranted siege to the company subjected staff of the
organisation to crude intimidation, psychological and emotional
trauma.
The EFCC had accused THE SUN of publishing pro-Biafra , Boko Haram and
Niger Delta militant stories.
The latest action of the EFCC on a newspaper house is a sad reminder
of the dark years of military dictatorship and a deliberate effort to
muzzle the press.
As a statutory agency birthed by an Act of Parliament in a democracy,
we had expected the EFCC to explore civil means of addressing
perceived infraction by a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian
democratic project.
Rather than see the Fourth Estate of the Realm as an opposition, the
Commission should realise that the media is an indispensable partner
in its fight against corruption.
The Guild notes that the latest affront on THE SUN by operatives of
the EFCC is one in a number of targeted attempts by a section of the
nation’s security agency to gag free press.
We recall the recent
expulsion of Mr. Olalekan Adetayo, the State House correspondent of
Punch Newspapers from Aso Rock by Bashir Abubakar, the Chief Security
Officer (CSO) to President Muhammadu Buhari.The alleged forfeiture
order the EFCC brandished this morning is 10 years old and a matter
still before the Court of Appeal. The Guild wonders why the Commission
felt it had to act ahead of a case before a court of competent
jurisdiction.
It bears restating that such an attempt to intimidate
the media does incalculable damage to the image of the EFCC and indeed
the Nigerian government. Besides, it does not only undermine the
foundation of our young democracy, it is a major threat to its
sustenance and existence.
The Guild condemns the EFCC action in its entirety and calls on the
Commission to purge itself of all anti-democratic tendencies in order
to foster mutual cooperation with the media and other stakeholders in
its crusade against graft.
The Guild calls on the EFCC to put an end to its current attempts to
gag the Press and also demands an unreserved apology from the
Commission to the SUN Publishing Limited.
Funke Egbèmode
President.