NIGERIA MEDIA MONITOR

{------

#03-35 MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER, 1998

*	POLICE KILLS JOURNALIST; ANOTHER ASSAULTED
*	BEN CHARLES OBI JOINS TELL MAGAZINE
*	BAGAUDA KALTHO: POLICE INSISTS, ICNL REFUTES
*	GOVT EXPLAINS DELAY IN NITEL'S PRIVATISATION; STEPS INTO
NITEL'S IMPASSES WITH ISPs
*          CONFERENCE REPORT
*	EDITORS AS DICTATOR'S COLLABORATORS
*	BAGAUDA KALTHO: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS


NEWSREEL
POLICE KILLS JOURNALIST IN ENUGU
Mr. Okezie Amaruben, journalist and publisher of an Enugu based magazine,
"NewsService" was shot 28 August,  by a policeman in Enugu, Enugu state
capital .
The incident occurred at about 1.00 pm when Amaruben had gone to check a
job being done for him by a printer along College Road, off Edinburgh
Road, Enugu. The publisher stumbled on the armed policemen who had come to
the printer's workshop to arrest him (the printer). The police could not
find the printer and decided to arrest his staff and had even forced one
of the staff, a  boy, in to the booth of their car with the inscription
"Operation Vigilance 03" when Mr. Amaruben entered the place.
The police immediately accosted Amaruben and claimed that he was the
printer they came to arrest on the order of their boss following a
complaint lodged by a woman against him (printer) for not executing her
job. The police pounced on Amaruben without giving him chance to identify
himself. One of the policemen shoved the nuzzle of his gun on the
Amaruben's forehead and was  hitting him on the head with the mouth of his
pistol  shouting; move ! move !!. It was when they got to the vehicle that
the policeman who had his hand at the butt of the pistol hit him again
with the end, letting off a deafening sound. The bullet pierced his head
and he fell face down on the street.
One and a half hours after the incident, a team of police detectives
arrived the spot. They dragged the body of the journalist into the booth
of their  car and sped off.
A police spokesman confirmed the arrest of the policeman who shot the
journalist and was being held at Ogui Road police station while the victim
was taken to UNTH Enugu. He was confirmed dead a few hours after he was
brought into the hospital.
Similarly, Ganiyu Salman of the Sporting Tribune was assaulted 22 August.

The journalist was beaten up during a soccer match in a stadium in Ibadan,
Oyo state. The attacker, an official of Shooting Stars Sportrs Club, said
he was protesting a recent story titled: "Baraje unveils N4.m (&) Juju
deal at 3Sc" published in a recent edition of the Sporting Tribune, for
which Salman works.
The embittered man further threatened a total show down with the reporter
should any of the Tribune titles publish any negative story on the club.

BEN CHARLES OBI JOINS TELL MAGAZINE
Ben Charles Obi, the editor of the defunct Weekend Classique, who was
recently released from prison has joined the editorial team of TELL
magazine as an Assistant editor.

Weekend Classique became defunct, shortly after Ben Charles Obi was
jailed, when the publisher Mrs Mofe Damijo died.

BAGAUDA KALTHO: POLICE INSISTS, ICNL REFUTES.
The Chairman of the Task Force on Terrorist Activities, Assistant
Commissioner of Police, Zakari Biu, has reiterated the body's
determination to prosecute the management of the Independent
Communications Network Limited, (ICNL), publishers of TheNews, Tempo and
PM News, for its alleged involvement in the January 1996 bomb blast which
rocked the Durbar Hotel, Kaduna.

He added that any other person or group of persons found to have been
connected with bomb blasts in the recent past, would also be prosecuted.

Alhaji Biu said that his disclosure of the involvement of Mr. James
Bagauda Kaltho, in the January 18 1996 bomb blast was based on a thorough
investigation of the task force and not on prejudice.

Alhaji Biu, had at a press conference at the Force Criminal Investigation
Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, linked the missing The News' Senior
Correspondent, Mr. Kaltho, with the Durbar Hotel bomb blast. Biu had
fingered Kaltho as the bomber that had died in the blast.

But the management of the ICNL, had the following day at a press
conference, debunked Biu's claims, describing them as baseless and
'curious'.

Alhaji Biu, in his reaction to ICNL's statement, said that neither he nor
any member of the task force had any personal scores to settle with the
ICNL management or Mr. Kaltho, but that the task force acted on the
information at its disposal.

"What I have given to the public through the press is a result of my
investigation. I expect both positive and negative reactions from members
of the public. Everybody has the right to express his own opinion.

The police officer,  said the Force never at any time dissociated itself
from the case. He added that as an individual, "I have no interest in the
case. And if the police had distanced itself from the case, why should I
put the whole thing on my head? What I have given the public is the result
of our investigation."

On the discrepancies in the statement made by the Kaduna State Acting
Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Umar Suleiman, two years ago, that the
corpse of the bomb victim could not be identified and his own disclosure
that Kaltho was the bomber, Biu advised critics and the ICNL management to
go to Kaduna to further verify the case.

"I implore you  to get in touch with Kaduna, if the officer is still
serving there, which I believe, ask him this question. If he says yes it
is true, (that the body could not be identified) put him on record. I
cannot sit down here to answer the question".

He advised the management of the ICNL to come forward for a round table
conference, where the matter can be settled.

He denied ever arresting Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, the Managing Editor of the
ICNL or intimidating Mrs. Kaltho in the course of the task force's
investigation, but said the Police tried its best to assist the deceased's
family in unravelling the mystery behind the missing journalist.

The Police officer also hinted that what prompted the raiding of the
company (ICNL) and the eventual seizure of the company's computers, was
for the police to scan them, to ascertain whether their was information
that could connect the company with the blast.

On why the seized computers had not been returned, the task force chairman
said none of the management staff of the company nor their lawyer had come
forward to claim them.

Reacting to Biu's threat to prosecute ICNL, the Managing Director of the
company, Mr. Adebayo Onanuga, said that the ICNL was glad that Biu was at
least contemplating a civilised manner of seeking redress. "It's good that
he says he is going to court.  We shall be prepared to meet him there.
Everybody knows that the only thing our organisation knows how to do is to
publish magazines and newspapers.

NBC MOVES TO ABUJA
The headquarters of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has moved
to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.

Director-General of the Commission, Dr. Tom Adaba, who made the disclosure
however, said that two directorates of the commission will till remain in
Lagos.

According to him, directorates of monitoring and operations, and research
and planning, in addition to the Lagos zone of the NBC will hold sway in
Lagos.

Dr. Adaba also said  that Nigeria had been given the privilege of hosting
the second edition of "Africast", the conference of broadcast executives
from the continent in Abuja.

The three-day programme which has been scheduled for October 27 to 29,
just as the maiden edition hosted in Abuja in 1996, is expected to bring
together policy makers, chief executives of regulatory bodies, operators,
scholars and others.

MINISTER EXPLAINS DELAY IN NITEL'S PRIVATISATION
Delay in evaluating assets of NITEL is holding back its privatisation,
Minister of Communications, Air Vice Marshal Canice Umenwaliri has said.

He said government would soon float another company to compete with NITEL. 

Answering questions after a tour of NITEL installations in Lagos, AVM
Umenwaliri said the privatisation of NITEL as stated in this year's budget
had been accepted in principle by the Federal Government, stressing the
idea was still alive.

What was causing the delay, according to was the evaluation of the NITEL
assets.

"If you want to sell your goods you have to know the worth. That is what
we are doing now," he explained.

On the establishment of a second carrier, the minister said preliminary
work had started, adding that the next thing now was for people to start
submitting proposals.

INTERNET IMPASSE: PRESIDENCY STEPS IN
A  committee made up of officials of the Ministries of Communications
(MOC) and Science and Technology (S&T), and the Nigerian Internet Group
(NIG) has been set up to address the impasse created by the controversial
N10,000 ($ 117.6) levy imposed on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by the
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

Communications Minister, Air Vice Marshal Canice Umenwaliri said at the
weekend that this is in line with the Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam
Abubakar's message to the officials and participants at a recent
millennium bug seminar.

He said  the government would pursue ways on how to remove all obstacles
to the development and growth of the Internet in Nigeria.

He also said the issue as it affects the ISPs and NITEL has been receiving
attention at both his ministry and the Presidency, adding that, whatever
the problem, it "will be resolved soon."

According to him, talks are on at various levels of consultation to
correct the perceived imbalance in the sector. "I have been briefed about
the problem so I am aware of what is happening and will do everything I
can to resolve it. The committee is meeting already at various levels of
consultation," Umenwaliri added.

He implored all concerned to be patient as "we are doing everything to
correct the situation" he said.

The N10,000 ($#117.6) levy per "received only line" by NITEL is being
resisted by the ISPs who have variously canvassed for a redress.

The ISPs have also criticised in strong terms NITEL's proposition to them
to enter an interconnectivity pact. Describing these moves as primitive,
they wrote to the Minister, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
and were about to reach the Head of State, when NITEL  invited them for a
meeting on August 18.

But the meeting, which ended in a fiasco, has been described by the ISPs
as a waste as NITEL stood its ground without conceding any point to them.

At the August 18 meeting, the ISPs stated that:

*we do not need any interconnection agreement with NITEL with respect to
our service provision. Internet operation does not exchange traffic with
NITEL as obtained with the private telephone network operators.  We do not
have exchange or switches to interconnect since our services only exchange
telephone usage;
* NITEL's special charge of N10,000($117.6) per line per month on
"received only" lines used by ISPs is grossly exorbitant as this will
significantly increase the access cost to the Nigerian public to the
Internet thereby jeopardising Internet growth and spread in the country;
and
* assuming there is no standard way of charging in telecommunications as
is being claimed in some quarters, once any charge made is not focused at
a particular group there will not be protest from anybody. Singling out
the ISPs of excessive exchange is vindictive and will be counter
productive to the Nigerian economy.

The ISPs claimed that the number of lines in use at present by ISPs is put
at 400 but NITEL's Deputy General Manager, Mr. Tayo Ekundayo, disagreed,
saying "there are over 1,000 lines in use in Victoria Island alone. So it
is not true that only 400 are being used."

Ekundayo said, the ISPs are being asked to comply to create an enabling
operating situation where they can be protected; adding that "their fear
that NITEL's entry into commercial Internet service provision will
jeopardise the ISPs operation is unfounded."

Generally, besides the N10,000($117.6) levy, ISPs also pay N72,000($847)
yearly for leased circuit to NITEL.
SPECIAL REPORT
AGENDA FOR ALL TIME: REPORT ON MEDIA CONFERENCE
The independent press in Africa and pro-democracy groups converge on Accra
to set an agenda for the future.

Emerging from a five-year siege and brutal repression of the opposition
press and civil society, Nigeria, expectedly was the focus of the four day
conference on "The State of The Media in West Africa," organised by the
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the West
African Journalists Association (WAJA).

In what was a close examination of the critical press in Nigeria,
especially under the brutal dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, the first
working session on "The State of the Media in Nigeria,"dwelt on how the
press against all odds engaged the military dictatorship in a battle of
wits.

Lanre Arogundade, Chairman, Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ), affirmed that in Nigeria, only Abacha's death is what
has changed and cautioned that though emerging from a particularly dark
era, there is no total respite yet for the press. He drew attention to the
notorious Decree 2 which the military has refused to repeal, and the
proposed National Mass Media Commission, as major threats to press
freedom. Doifie Ola of the Environmental Rights Agenda (ERA), maintained
that journalism in Nigeria is death itself. Death to the journalist who
loves equity and freedom.  The press, he asserted, is an easy prey for the
military and civilian power elites who are always engaged in the bitter
power struggle.

Soji Omotunde, Editor, African Concord recently released from detention
told the moving story of his Gestapo-fashion abduction by security
operatives and his six months ordeal. "If there was hell, I was made to go
there." Neither bitter nor bowed, he declared that inspite of the ordeals
of the press ".....we survived. We have outlived the beast." He located
the new found radicalism of the Nigerian media in the long period of a
military dictatorship which brooks no opposition.

Owei Lakemfa, a prolific writer from the Vanguard stable thanked the
"prostitutes" who reportedly spent the last night with General Abacha, for
intervening, to rid Nigeria of the most-brutal dictator ever foisted on
it.  He identified three categories of journalists under Abacha's
full-blown dictatorship-those in detention, those in exile and those that
remained and operated under severe repression and risks. "We must begin to
meet the military blow by blow," he declared.

Nosa Igiebor, Editor-in-Chief of TELL magazine decried the present romance
of the international community with the military dictatorship in Nigeria,
and warned that it is a romance that will soon go sour.  He condemned the
grand larceny and looting of the Abacha regime, especially by his military
cohorts and civilian collaborators adding that in Nigeria, nothing has
changed. He described the present state of the Nigerian press as that of
exhaustion - physical and financial. "What we are experiencing now is some
honeymoon. We don't know how long it is going to last."

Bayo Onanuga, Editor-in-Chief of TheNews/TEMPO/P.MNews group drew
attention to the censorship environment under which the press operates and
the high degree of banditory under military rule. He went to great length
to explain how one of the security outfits in Nigeria has manufactured
facts to explain the possible dastardly murder of one of the senior
correspondents of the group, Bagauda Kaltho, 32 months after the man was
arrested. He described as "dumb-founding" both news of Bagauda's death and
the attempt to label ICNL, TheNews publishers as a terrorist organisation
by the Nigeria Police. According to Onanuga, the experience of TheNews
shows the extent to which a dictatorial government will go to blackmail
the critical independent press.

>From Zambia came Fred M'embe, a mass communicator and publisher, who
holds the record of being the first journalist to be banned on the
internet by the Zambian authorities. Explaining on how new technologies
could be utilised to circumvent state intervention, M'embe told the
interesting story of how Chiluba, a friend tuned foe tapped his telephone
line.  He, in turn, devised a means of yapping Fred Chiluba, a development
he described as classical case of 'Fred Freding Fred.'

Kwesi Pratt, publisher of the Ghanaian paper, Weekly Insight, a vocal
voice detained more than 14 times and regarded as the 'Ghanaian Gani
Fawehinmi,' argued for joint action across Africa among journalists. The
session on "Publish or Perish," which touched on methods of circumventing
state interference in distribution and production, provided a broad
insight into the practice of defiant publishing, alternately called
"guerrilla journalism" which emerged in the last five years.  Idowu Obasa
of TheNews/TEMPO/P.MNews magazine and Kola Ilori of TELL magazine relayed
stories of how their publications operated from the trenches. How they led
a team of journalists to work from the underground, under risky conditions
to publish the truth. Obasa, traced the history of "guerrilla journalism"
in Nigeria to the emergence of TEMPO magazine after The News magazine was
proscribed by the Babangida regime in 1993.  "Rather than give up, we were
emboldened to continue publishing in spite of ma!
ny attacks and setbacks," he enthused. He, pointed out that the cost of
practising "guerilla journalism" is great, ranging from high cost of
production, loss of revenue, magazine seizure to arrest and detentions.

Worried by the infiltration of professional bodies such as the Guild of
Editors and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), which parade government
stooges in position of leadership, Babafemi Ojudu, managing editor of
TheNews, argued forcibly for the establishment of an independent Guild
Editors, that will be well-equipped to fight the other battles of
professionalism and costs.

Horacio Vebitsky, the Argentine journalist reputed for his crusade against
military dictatorship in Argentina, revealed the brutal repression
suffered by Argentine journalists under nearly two centuries of political
dictatorship. Between 1979 and 1986, over 3,000 journalists were wasted by
the military. "Argentine dictators were more brutal than that of
Africa's," he declared.

On the vital issue of litigation in the age of decrees, Richard Akinnola,
Edetaen Ojo, Femi Falana and Fred M'membe, and everybody else at the
conference agreed that it was time to challenge, through campaigns and
litigations, gag laws especially decrees and the need to use litigation as
a moral weapon. Bertie Howard of the Washington D.C.- based Africa News
Service, called for partnerships between African news organisations and
foreign groups using the internet as a common newsroom. An
African-American, she declared: "The four-day conference, which held at
the Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra, was critical in its assessment of military
dictatorship and other run democratic governments on the African
continent.

Significantly, it enabled journalists and members of the civil society
from different climes to compare notes, share experiences, brainstorm and
to redefine new strategies for the struggle ahead.
Source: The News magazine 7 September, 1998

NEWS ANALYSIS
GUILD OF EDITORS AS ABACHA'S COLLABORATOR
This week convention of Nigerian Guild of Editors, an umbrella association
of editors and senior managers of the Media urgently calls for a critical
appraisal of the operation of the body itself, given the current high
level of dissatisfaction among members.

For a body whose aims include the promotion of the spirit of camaraderie
and understanding among members, advancement of the interest of the
profession, defence of press freedom as well as protection of public
interest cannot be said to have lived up to its billing of late. In fact,
those founding fathers of the Guild like Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Alade
Odunewu and Prince Tony Momoh who gave the Guild a sense of purpose and
direction which culminated in the enactment of the ethics of the
profession as well as providing inspiration for the founding of Nigerian
Press Organisation (an umbrella body of NPAN, NUJ and the Guild) cannot be
marvel at the kind of reactionary ethos that now pervade the body.

Thus if members thought they had gotten over the kind of perfidy that
almost killed the body following its Minna conference during the giddy
days of the second republic with the resuscitation of the body in the late
80s by leading professionals like Ray Ekpu, Onyema Ugbochukwu among
others, the role played by the leadership of the Guild during the just
past notorious Abacha era can only be compared to that of writers' society
during the Nazi period in Germany.

Not only was the Guild hijacked by the high officials of the state
security, it became a collaborative institution in the advancement of
General Abacha's perfidy and rape of the national integrity. In the past,
it was possible to talk about healthy politics for control of the
organisation between the private and the government owned media. During
the Abacha era that was neither politics nor debate. What happened were
directives and manipulations with the whole leadership serving as a tool
of the junta.  Most importantly, the interest of members and their
profession were no longer relevant. Only that of Abacha and his
confederates became the agenda.

Meetings were not only convened at the instance of the Aso Rock, their
agenda and directions were also dictated. Those to attend the meeting were
not only selected, those editors who asked too much questions were to be
shut out as long as Abacha ruled. To ensure strict compliance, a colonel
within the security agency and with office at Aso Rock coordinated the
activities of the body. In collaboration with the leadership. Therefore,
the resolutions of such gatherings were usually predictable, to advance
the interest of a semi-literate rogue in khaki who was set to ruin his
nation. It was that worse to the extent that the leadership could not use
its collaborative effort to ask for a little grace in reducing the killing
cost of production in the media. As well as reprieve for those in the
sponsor's gulags.

The most famous of such perfidy was the Guild's state sponsored seminar in
Lagos. Where all Abacha's ministers were made  speakers. By the time the
seminar closed, not a serious word in the communique for the release of
publishers and editors languishing in the junta's cells. Instead they
became the defenders of Abacha's crime against humanity. And those nations
who called for democracy and respect for human rights, the guild asked to
mind their business. No word on Mass Media Commission. No comment on the
menace of Newspaper Registration Board.

To be able to perpetrate all this, the Guild's leadership ensured that the
body was not run democratically. Members were not informed of its
activities. No general meting and no consultation. It was so bad that
non-editors and those no longer in the profession continued to remain at
the helm.  Thus the Guild became hijacked by contractors and jobbers. And
what was the results of that selfishness? Some were deceived with promises
of ministerial job ( particularly following the exit of Ofonagoro) and
chief executive position of one of the government controlled media which
they never Got. It was a Guild so made cheap and irrelevant. For a body
consisting of some of the most highly educated, informed and enlightened
Nigerians that is supposed to be a trustee of public conscience to be so
hijacked is not only a shame but a disaster. And disservice to journalism
profession.

Yet, despite Abacha's mysterious exit, the Guild leadership is still not
willing to change because old habits die hard. Those members who had
thought the next convention would provide an opportunity to change things
for good are beginning to discover that the outcome of the so-called
elections is already predetermined. The Abacha elements have arranged the
coming convention in such a way that those who seek to challenge them are
already disadvantaged. As usual, late information on the modalities for
the poll is the order of the day. You can't even feel the pulse of the
impending convention in the media they claim they control. Already some
members are being told on who has been designated to take over. In other
words, it is an "arrangeE" election.

Perhaps it may be wise to leave the Guild for those who are more
interested in promoting the interest of government officials. This is why
the thinking in some quarters for the floating of a new body. To be called
Independent Media Editors and Managers which will be modelled along the
purposeful and professionally oriented American Society of Editors. This
would be a right step in the right direction. There cannot be a better
time for this than now when the country appears to be moving towards
democracy.
By Tunji Bello, Editor, Sunday Concord.
Source: Sunday Concord 30 AUGUST, 1998.

INFORMED COMMENTARY
BAGAUDA KALTHO: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
The other Tuesday, Alhaji Zakari Biu, Assistant Commissioner of Police in
charge of the Task Force on Terrorist Activities held a press conference
in Lagos at which he made two startling disclosures concerning the
whereabouts of Mr. James Bagauda Kaltho, the Kaduna State Senior
Correspondent of TheNews/Tempo. First, Alhaji Biu alleged that Kaltho is
the hitherto unidentifiable terrorist and victim at the scene of the bomb
blast at Durbar Hotel, Kaduna on January 18, 1996. He produced two
photographs to substantiate this claim. Second, Biu noted that a video
cassette containing a Bauchi Television interview with Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari which was later published in TheNews was also found at the scene of
the blast. On the strength of this evidence, he accused Kaltho's employers
of either having had a hand in the terrorist attack on Durbar Hotel, or
perhaps, Kaltho was acting on his own. What Alhaji Biu has done in effect.
Is to accuse a journalist and a media organisation, of terro!
rism.

The evidence that Alhaji Biu has advanced does not support any of his
suppositions, there are too many gaps and details in his story which do
not add up. The credibility of the police, and the Task Force on Terrorist
Activities is what is at stake in this matter.  Not surprisingly, the
management of TheNews and Tempo, the Nigerian Union of Journalists as well
as human rights groups have dismissed Biu's allegations as unacceptable.

When the bomb blast at the Durbar Hotel occurred in January 1996, the
Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Umar Suleiman, visited the
scene. He said that the victim of the blast, who was also suspected to be
the bomber "could not be identified.... because the smoke of the bomb had
darkened him," his stomach was "ripped open, legs shattered, and face
burnt beyond recognition." We assume that Alhaji Suleiman's position as
Police Commissioner is high enough for him to have understood the meaning
of this declaration. It is therefore curious that 32 months later, Alhaji
Zakari Biu is coming forward with a different statement.  Could it be that
Alhaji Suleiman was lying at the time? Could he have been mischievous with
the evidence of his eye? Or is Alhaji Biu being mischievous after the
fact? Besides, why would the police contradict itself so blatantly? And
why has it taken the Task Force on Terrorist Activities so long to present
a contrary evidence? These are gaps which Alh!
aji Biu's press conference did not address. This is to say the least,
untidy and unprofessional. Mr. Young Arebamen, the Police Public Relations
officer, said although the Task Force on Terrorism is headed by a Police
Officer, it is actually a Presidential Task Force comprising officers from
other security agencies. This in itself does not quite excuse the police.

Bagauda Kaltho's employers at TheNews/Tempo have raised questions about
the identity of the victim found at the scene of the bomb blast. They
insist that it could not have been their staff: first, because no autopsy
or DNA testing has been carried out to determine if the alleged body is
the same as Bagauda Kaltho as he is known, and second, no member of the
Kaltho family was invited to identify the body. Kaltho was detained by
security agents long before the bomb blast at a time when The News and
Tempo were under siege from the military and the various security
agencies. If indeed, the body at the scene of the bomb blast was
identifiable, and it was Kaltho's the security agents and the police ought
to have immediately disclosed this at the time.  But why would the police
hide useful evidence? Again, why would a video cassette that was also not
referred to at the time suddenly become a major piece of evidence 32
months later?

Mr. Kaltho has been described as an enterprising and diligent journalist.
He worked for a publication that was constantly victimized by the Abacha
administration. For over two years, his employers have implored the
security agencies to release him, or at least disclose his whereabouts.
They have also appealed to the Head of State to come to their rescue. Is
it likely that the Task Force on Terrorism felt compelled by the pressures
to say something about Kaltho?

All told, Alhaji Biu and his men have many questions to answer.  But it
should no longer be their perrogative and provide whatever answers they
deem fit. The police who are accomplices in all that has happened cannot
also be the one to speak on the matter.  The Federal Government should set
up an independent judicial inquiry to help investigate exactly what
happened in this instance.  Too many atrocities were committed under the
guise of national security during the Abacha administration. At a time
when the Federal Government is reaching out to all constituencies and
inspiring confidence among the people. The Kaltho incident stands out like
another bad tale from the past.  It should be handled with despatch, to
assuage public fears, and ensure justice.

Source: Editorial, The Guardian 2 September,1998.

---

TO OUR DEAR READERS: Media Monitor is a dialogical project. We expect that its contents will elicit reactions from its readers. Consequently, you are all encouraged to share your feelings with one another on its pages. Letters not longer than 200 words marked for the attention of the Editor, Media Monitor, should be e-mailed to: ijc@linkserve.com.ng

MEDIA MONITOR IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY AND CIRCULATED WORLDWIDE BY INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM CENTRE (IJC), TEJUMOLA HOUSE, 1ST FLOOR, 24 OMOLE LAYOUT, NEW ISHERI ROAD, P.O.BOX 7808, LAGOS, NIGERIA. TEL/FAX 234-1-4924998; E-MAIL: ijc@linkserve.com.ng

---

Media Monitor

---