…As Atiku condemns action, says free press in danger

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that the closure of AIT and Raypower FM, owned by the DAAR Communications by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is a throwback to the era of Decree 4 when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari shackled the media.

In a statement by his media aide, Paul Ibe, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last general elections warned that the suspension of the licences of the firm and shutting down of its stations was a dangerous dark anti-media agenda to stifle critical voices in the country.

Atiku alleged that the hostility of the present administration to free press could not be hidden despite its pretentious commitment to democratic values.

He insisted that a situation where the media cannot freely criticise the government poses a grave danger to our democracy.

Atiku noted that it was impossible to have a vibrant democratic order in an environment where the press is under totalitarian threats from a supposed democratic government, saying it was impossible to love democratic values and hate free press at the same time.

He alleged that the war against the media was the first stage to turn the nation’s democracy into full-blown dictatorship.