The Nigeria Labour Congress has said that the ongoing harassment of media houses in the guise of searching for dangerous materials was unacceptable under democratic governance.
The President of the NLC, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, said the “seizure of newspapers, arrest of circulation drivers of several newspaper publishing companies as well as depriving the public access to information by operatives of the Nigerian military and other security agencies  is absolutely unacceptable and clearly out of place in any democratic society” in an electronic mail on Tuesday.
Omar said that the military lacked the powers to trample on the freedom of the press and other freedoms entrenched in the constitution.
He stressed that the military also lacked the right to limit press freedom as the congress could not find a link between insecurity and a free press in a democratic regime.
He challenged the military to provide evidence of the involvement of the media in the violence and killings in the country.
Omar said that the media remained a critical organ for democratic development stressing that any move to suppress the media and its operations as shown by the recent disruption of newspapers circulation would be resisted by the congress.
“The military and all the security agencies ought to know that all fundamental rights are germane to democracy and therefore lack constitutional and legal rights to unilaterally order the circumscription of freedom of press or any freedom in any form as we cannot find the link between insecurity and a free press in democratic governance.
“There is an urgent need to prove the culpability of the news media in the ongoing violent attacks against people and critical facilities in Nigeria.
“For us, we strongly believe a free press is very critical in the sustenance of democracy and any obstruction to the operations of any critical organ of our democratic process would be resisted as the recent infringements in the circulation of newspapers portend,” he added.

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