…as Katamaran, Zero Meridian, Umalokun Decks, Eagle 102.5fm organise joint radio programme to mark special day
The National Association of Seadogs, popularly called Pyrates Confraternity, has demanded an unconditional release of the jailed President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, Mubarak Bala.
Pyrates Confraternity in a statement to commemorate the 2024 World Press Freedom Day, said though the special day celebrated every May 3rd “serves to underscore the significance of press freedom and to advocate for the rights of Journalists globally,” the organisation “consistently chooses this day to champion press freedom and advocate for the unconditional release of Mubarak Bala, a Nigerian atheist and President of the Humanist Association, who has been wrongfully imprisoned for expressing his atheistic beliefs.”
Recall that on April 28, 2020, police in Kaduna arrested Bala from his home because of a Facebook post he made allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad and a court in Kano State eventually imprisoned him for exercising his freedom of belief.
He is currently appealing a 24-year prison sentence handed down in April 2022 by a Kano State High Court, after he pleaded guilty to charges of ‘causing a public disturbance.’
Speaking on the Mubarak Bala issue in a discussion on the occasion of the 2024 World Press Freedom Day, which had the theme: “A Press for the Planet Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis,” on a radio programme organised by the Katamaran Deck comprising Ijebu-Ode and Remo, Zero Meridian Deck (United Kingdom) and the Umalokun Deck (Warri) in conjunction with Eagle 102.5fm, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, the discussants also unanimously called for the immediate release of the Humanist Association of Nigeria President from detention.
One of the discussants, Hon Wale Adedayo, who is a seasoned journalist and former Chairman of Ijebu-East Local Government Area Council, noted that press freedom should not be for the benefit of media practitioners alone.
Adedayo said such freedom should also be extended to other citizens to enable them to have access to information, a privilege that everyone must be allowed to enjoy under democracy.
Adedayo further argued that citizens must be adequately equipped with the information to enable to effectively hold those they have elected into political and public offices accountable.
According to the former local government Chairman, “Press Freedom is not for the benefit of media practitioners alone. An informed citizenry, who’ll thus make informed choices, are essential ingredients in any genuine democracy. But for citizens to make informed choices, they MUST have access to information. Without access to information, there is no democracy. So, Press Freedom is essential for everyone in a democracy.
“Citizens must be able to question and see, first hand, what those they elected or appointed to serve them are doing right or wrong. It is this monitoring process that is encompassed in the process of accessing and releasing information. It shows that the elected and appointed officials of Government are doing what they were put in office to do. Any secrecy about such things is not allowed.”
Another discussant, Mr Segun Olatunji, General Editor of First News newspaper, lamented that despite Nigeria’s over two-decade old democracy, many innocent Nigerians are still languishing in jail for no just cause.
He said many Mubarak Balas have even been forgotten in jail, stressing that this shouldn’t be so under a democracy.
Olatunji argued that no Nigerian should be unjustly denied his freedom and fundamental rights, particularly under the current political dispensation in the country.
He therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu to take another look into the ordeals of all those Nigerians unjustly incarcerated and order their immediate freedom from detention and unjust imprisonment.
Olatunji also condemned the illegal arrest, harassment, torture and flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of innocent citizens often perpetrated by the Nigerian military and other security agencies in the country.
The First News Editor said, “The near total absence of press freedom in Nigeria is a sad commentary on the country’s over two decades of democracy. In Nigeria, freedom of the press is a mirage and it will remain so, so long as the military and other security agencies, aided and encouraged by their new civilian overlords, continue to exhibit this warped belief that they’re superior to the rest of the citizens in the country because of their uniforms and guns, which in the first place are bought with the taxpayers’ money.
“The practice of journalism in our country has become replete with cases of abduction, illegal arrest, detention and even death as well as the maltreatment and crass violation of the fundamental rights of journalists and other citizens who cry out against corrupt practices, illegalities and other heinous crimes being committed by the privileged few and those in the corridors of power, even under our over two decades old democracy.
“There are still many innocent Nigerians who are currently languishing in jail for no just cause. There are many Mubarak Balas pining away behind bars in prisons across the country. They have even been forgotten. This shouldn’t be so. Nigeria is under a civil rule and no one should be unjustly denied his freedom and fundamental human rights. I think it’s high time Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu looked into all these cases of unjust incarceration of innocent citizens with a view to setting them free. He should not allow his government to be seen as one that subscribes to the flagrant violation of the fundamental rights of hapless citizens by those in positions of authority under this dispensation. He needs to drum it into the ears of the military and other security agencies that Nigeria is no longer under the jackboots rule of military juntas, where impunity reigned supreme and whose pastime was the abuse and flagrant violation of people’s rights. Their mentality must be re-set to be in tune with the new reality of being under a civil rule and democracy.”