Niger Governor Orders Closure of Radio Station For Criticising Govt
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has ordered the closure of a private radio station in Minna, Badeggi FM, for providing residents the platforms to criticise his administration.
According to a statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Bologi Ibrahim, the governor made the announcement during the expanded meeting of the state APC caucus in Minna, attended by Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris.
The move is being viewed as an attempt to muzzle press freedom and emasculate the rights of citizens to freely express themselves.
The governor had claimed that the daily activities of the Radio station were “unethical”, as it has been inciting the people against the government.
Bago said the Homeland Security ministry and the Commissioner of Police should seal the radio station, just as he said that Badeggi FM Radio operational licence be revoked.
The Syndicate reports however that no organ of the state government has the right to revoke the operational licence of any broadcast station.
In Nigeria, it is only the the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), an agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Information, that has the mandate to revoke the operational licence of any radio station.
There has been no statement yet from the private radio station which was established in 2020 by a veteran journalist, Shuaibu Badeggi.
