- Title: NIGERIA: Nigerians say government should do more to free kidnapped girls
- Date: 7th June 2014
- Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (JUNE 7, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING "BRING BACK OUR GIRLS" VARIOUS OF MAN ADDRESSING PROTESTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR, ANTI CORRUPTION NETWORK, DINO MELAYE, SAYING: "The excuse by the military that that they had intelligence gathering and that was why they are doing what they are doing. What is the negative concomitant effect of the operation after the intelligence gathering? What were your discoveries after the seizure of these newspapers? It happened yesterday, you didn't find anything. Today you are repeating the same thing and you have not found anything. It shows there is another ulterior motive to the clamping down of the media." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SEATED VARIOUS OF BANNER READING: "BRING BACK OUR GIRLS" LAGOS, NIGERIA (JUNE 7, 2014) (REUTERS) VENUE FOR SIT-IN PROTEST BANNER READING (English): "COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES: BRING BACK OUR GIRLS" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS LISTENING TO MAN SPEAKING THROUGH MEGAPHONE MAN SPEAKING THROUGH MEGAPHONE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LISTENING BADGE ON A T-SHIRT READING "BRING BACK OUR NOW & ALIVE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWYER, CHIDI ODINKALU, SAYING: "I think that there are many things that have gone wrong in this quite early, you know, right from numbers, the counting, how many of these girls and the politicization of what is clearly a human tragedy, a tragedy for communities. I do think we have got to try and do that right, to redouble efforts, and to do that with a sense of mission and professionalism and also of civic responsibility." PARKED POLICE VAN POLICEMAN
- Embargoed: 22nd June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Crime,Conflict,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA1W9JLHLCYBUPVUFLCUI5Z8HE8
- Story Text: Sit-in protests continued in Nigeria on Saturday (June 7) demanding safe return of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by militant Islamist Boko Haram group.
Three Nigerian newspapers said the army seized parts of their Friday print-runs and stopped distribution vans across the country, with one accusing the military of a rare crackdown on the media.
The Ministry of Defence said soldiers had searched a number of vehicles for unspecified sensitive material that it had heard was being transported with the newsprint, but insisted it had no intention of stopping the newspapers themselves.
Coordinator for the Anti-Corruption Network Dino Melaye said there was no justification for the actions by the military.
"The excuse by the military that that they had intelligence gathering and that was why they are doing what they are doing. What is the negative concomitant effect of the operation after the intelligence gathering? What were your discoveries after the seizure of these newspapers? It happened yesterday, you didn't find anything. Today you are repeating the same thing and you have not found anything. It shows there is another ulterior motive to the clamping down of the media," he said.
The schoolgirls taken from a school in Northeast Nigeria have been missing for over fifty days.
Activists gathered for a sit-in protest in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos said the authorities should 'redouble' their efforts in securing the release of the girls.
"I think that there are many things that have gone wrong in this quite early, you know, right from numbers, the counting, how many of these girls and the politicization of what is clearly a human tragedy, a tragedy for communities. I do think we have got to try and do that right, to redouble efforts, and to do that with a sense of mission and professionalism and also of civic responsibility," lawyer Chidi Odinkalu, who chairs the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission, said.
The army has faced particularly harsh criticism for its handling of a mounting Islamist insurgency in the northeast and its efforts to free the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants.
Earlier this week the Defence Ministry issued a statement denying local media reports that some of its senior officers had been court-martialled on charges of backing the rebels.
Defence headquarters said the newspaper searches "followed intelligence report indicating movement of materials with grave security implications across the country using the channel of newsprint-related consignments," without going into further details.
The newspapers said on Friday (June 6) they had been given no explanation for the stoppages. The Nation's paper edition led on suggestions from an unnamed source that the government might be ready to free detained insurgents in exchange for the adducted girls. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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