Soludo Under Fire For Banning Newsstand As Newspaper Vendors Call For His Impeachment

Newspaper vendors in Anambra State have called for the impeachment of the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for allegedly violating the constitutional right to freedom of the press. 

According to www.bigpenngr.com, the vendors are protesting what they claim to be a statewide ban on newsstands by the state government.

They claimed that every day, government agents harassed them, requesting that they rent offices or shops where they could conduct their business of selling and distributing newspapers.

“We’re going to the House of Assembly next week to ask them to impeach this governor,” some of the vendors who spoke with The Razor’s correspondents on Sunday said. “We can’t understand what his government is doing.” There have been protests every day by the citizenry over obnoxious policies.

“Today, “If it’s not the Keke operators; it’s the shuttle bus drivers or traders protesting heavy taxes and levies. What are all these? Many will die before Soludo’s tenure ends in the next three years if we continue this way.

Esther Godwin, a female vendor at Aroma, shared similar sentiments. She claimed that some government officials had visited her newsstand and given her a warning to stop selling newspapers there starting the following week.

She said, “Even in London and America, vendors still sell newspapers on the newsstands, despite their development.” Why is Soludo telling us to rent offices where we will be selling newspapers. Where is the money to do that at a time like this? We have planned to visit the Commissioner for Information to complain; If nothing positive comes out of our meeting with the Commissioner, we shall go to the State House of Assembly and call for his (Soludo’s) impeachment.

The alleged ban on newsstands in the state was referred to as executive madness by a mass communication lecturer who spoke to our correspondent in confidence.

He asserted that newspaper sales and distribution were essential elements of a free press in a democratic society and that any attempt to weaken newspaper vendors would be unfair and in violation of constitutional democracy.

The lecturer added, “The mass media is central to the development of any democratic society.” 

“This has been generally acknowledged in developed societies, to the extent that the media has often been described as the Fourth Estate of the Realm.”

“Nigeria, like other democracies, recognizes the role of the mass media and has gone to the extent of giving constitutional backing to it.” 

“The 1999 Constitution did not only guarantee every Nigerian freedom of expression and the right to own, establish, and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas, and opinions, but also gave obligations to the media to monitor governance and hold the government accountable to the people.

“Section 39 of the Constitution states that ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”’

“Section 22 of the Constitution states that the press, radio, television, and other agencies of mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.”

“So, it’s only a government that has something to fear or hide that would want to restrict vendors from circulating newspapers and other periodicals,” the lecturer stated.

The Commissioner for Information, Paul Nwosu, was unable to comment on the situation when reached by phone because it repeatedly rang out.