Accreditation Of Only 10 Media Bodies To Cover Nnamdi Kanu's Trial, A Sign It Won't Be Fair—Group

 

The Niger Delta Initiative Austria (NDIA) has demanded the unconditional and immediate release from detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and other political prisoners held by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government. 

The group also called for the release of the 5 Nigerian activists arrested together with a blind Saxophonist at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre for wearing #BuhariMustGo T-shirts. 

Nnamdi Kanu

Also according to the group, the restriction of press coverage of Kanu's trial is enough reason to know the trial will not be free and fair. 

The Department of State Services (DSS) and the Federal High Court of Nigeria had earlier released a memo identifying only 10 media houses approved to cover the trial of the IPOB leader. 

The media organisations include the TV station and newspaper belonging to the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, TVC, and The Nation respectively; Premium Times, Daily Independent, The Herald, NTA, AIG, News Agency of Nigeria, and Channels TV.  See Also Journalism Names Of Only 10 Journalists Approved For Nnamdi Kanu's Trial Revealed As Buhari Regime Gags Press 0 Comments 5 Hours Ago

"Many of us are very familiar with the Nigerian injustice system. We are aware of the violation and negation of basic citizen's rights. We shall not sit back and fold our hands or keep our lips sealed and allow the terrorist-led federal government of Nigeria to treat genuine agitators like common criminals. The ferocious secret police only accredited ten media houses to cover the @MaziNnamdiKanu's trial, a sign that his trial won't be free and fair."

A  statement by the founder and CEO of the group, Nyherovwo Ochuko Eriema, on Monday also criticised the handling of the affairs of Nigeria by Buhari. 

The group said though it considers Kanu's claims and unilateral inclusion of the Niger Delta region into the proposed Biafra map without due consultation as disrespectful, it recognises that the progenitors of the country founded it on duplicity. 

It added that the "biased and cruel model of wealth partition must not be allowed to continue".

"The Niger Delta Initiative Austria (NDIA) is using this statement to join other notable civil society organisations to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu and other political prisoners and journalists held without trial by the ruthless and killer secret Nigerian police on the order of General Muhammadu Buhari.

"NDIA demands the unconditional and immediate release from detention of 5 Nigerian activists arrested together with a blind Saxophonist at the Dunamis Gospel Church for wearing the #BuhariMustGo T-Shirts," it said. 

Knocking the treatment of the oil-rich Niger Delta region by the government, the group said, "The recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) after almost two decades and one in which the northern senators openly opposed a more appropriate wealth sharing model for oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta leaves more questions in our breasts than answers. 

"Oil-bearing communities are victims of the environmental war being waged on the region by oil multinational companies in collaboration with the federal government. The refusal by the All Progressives Congress senators to admit electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill justifies our earlier affirmations that it is either the present rulers of the Nigerian state are out of ideas or are not ready to do the needful in trying to set the country on the right path.

"Time will not allow us to talk about the deteriorating state of the nation's insecurity. Schoolchildren are at the mercy of kidnappers. Parents and guardians are left alone to negotiate the release of their wards with some who never made it back. 

"The gruesome killing of innocent people by the terrorist Fulani herdsmen that the federal government of Nigeria has refused to designate as a terrorist group makes the path to unity an illusion and a path to self-annihilation.

"Nnamdi Kanu never used guns nor bombs in his quest for a sovereign Biafran state. His organisation, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was designated a terrorist organisation by the Fulani-led federal government of Nigeria while leaving actual terrorists they refer to as bandits and herdsmen to operate with arbitrary impunity."

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