Reuben Abati, a veteran journalist and former presidential spokesman, has stated that the media has a legal obligation to keep the government accountable, underlining that “every attempt to gag journalists will fail.”
Speaking on the newest episode of Kikelomo Atanda-Owo’s Interviewing The Interviewer series, Abati stated that “the character of the Nigerian media has been a crusading media, defending the rights of the people, fighting for the people.”
He stated that it reached a tipping point in 1992, when the Babangida administration deregulated the broadcast medium, resulting in an explosion in the number of radio and television stations in the country, and that the media has been very consistent, as witnessed during the June 12 struggle.
“The duty of the journalist is to call the people in power to order and that’s guaranteed under Section 22 of the 1999 constitution, our job is to hold them accountable as further enshrined under section 39 of the 1999 constitution and we’re also guided by ethics as defined by the Nigerian Press Organisation to say we have to be objective, fair, accurate and act in public interest,” Abati said.
He said history has shown that
“everyone who has tried to gag or kill journalists have invariably failed and that’s why journalists must be courageous and its why i encourage journalists to try to be knowledgeable.”