“Buhari Baptism of Fire” This is my open letter to my fellow Nigerians. I am not a prophet of doom but for the drama that will be unfolded at this period. The month of December and February 2023 will go down in Nigerian history as one of its most political votile period. Many Nigerian will be angry with the people in leadership position. It will be Buhari’s baptism of Fire. In a democratic society, the liberty of the press is a cherished freedom more so in an emergent nation. It is the duty of the press to inform, to entertain, to inspire, to educate, to unite and check the excesses of the executive. In doing this, some person have been brought face to face with state agents who accuse them of recklessness or partisanship and therefore goaded into fail or harassed with little regard, this has watered down the often cherished liberty or the press to ferret out information. The role of law is the basis of all freedom which the press represented and defended. The proper role of the press was to be the watch – dog of the public not only to publicize the problems and the achievements of government, but also to mirror public opinion to the government by connecting on matters of national interest. The arbitrary arrests and frequent detention of Journalists ant activities in Nigeria is inconsistent with the claims of the rule of law. In recent years several journalist have been punished by detention, harassment and jail term under the circumstances in which such journalists felt that they have not broken any of the country’s law, the failure to charge to court at all, after several months of detention is to intimidate the press from publishing matters which do not favour some person in the authority. The powers of a writ of habeas corpus to challenge unlawful detention, gives one the awful detention seems illusory in a military regime because after the order has been made absolute, the responsible officer holding the prisoner continues to hold the same without any legal consequence. The court is powerless to do anything because of the detention law. Journalists are loyal citizen of Nigeria, and peace in the country to them is a matter of grave concern. They do not cry for a benevolent government, but the right to take part in the Government of their own country. Nigerian should be careful of the month of December because of accident, armed robbery, kidnapping, political assassination and senseless killing
December 2022 not 2023