Presidency reacts as military crackdown on media continues.

The Presidency said yesterday that the clampdown on the print media by soldiers is in order.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who ascribed the move as a measure to tackle security challenges in the country, however claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan has no hand in the continuing assault on the print because as he said, the soldiers’ action runs contrary to the president’s political belief.

Okupe clarified as untrue, news reports suggesting that President Jonathan might have ordered that the media and its activities be suppressed, adding that the exercise would be relaxed as soon as there is “significant reduction in the level of security alert.”

News reports said the Nigerian army (including officers in plain-clothes) continued their assault on the print media for the third day running yesterday, detaining delivery vans, confiscating newspaper copies and questioning vendors across the country

The soldiers’ action since last Friday, appeared to be aimed at stopping the newspapers from reaching readers as news reports across the country noted that vendors were generally afraid to collect and display the newspaper for fear of being beaten up or arrested.

The move had been condemned as censorship by the newspapers and international media groups, but defence officials said it had been a routine security operation and denied confiscating copies.



The raids come days after Nigeria's Information Minister, Labaran Maku, warned the media not to give "free publicity" to the activities of insurgents, saying they must "define the lines between the urge to report and the need to protect the interest of the nation".