MIlitary Not Letting Down On Clampdown Of Media

The Nigerian Army  is not ready to let down on its checks of newspaper distribution,the Director, Defence Information, Maj.Gen. Chris Olukolade, made this clear  on Tuesday while featuring on a programme, entitled Focus Nigeria on the African Independent Television monitored in Lagos.

Though he admitted that the onslaught was at a cost to the media, it would not stop until the military was satisfied that none of the circulating vehicles of the media organisations was not being used to carry arms and ammunition for the insurgents.

He, however, pleaded for understanding, saying the media must consider the military action as one of the sacrifices that should be made for national security.

                                                                                            

Olukolade denied media reports that the drivers of the media circulation vehicles were being detained and that newspapers were being confiscated.

But 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. Abdulwahed Omar, said the “seizure of newspapers, arrest of circulation drivers of several newspaper publishing companies as well as depriving the reading 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.