Freedom of Speech

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned against what he called a consistent pattern of departure from constitutional due process to tendencies of authoritarianism.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has apologised to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging that life is worthless under President Muhammadu Buhari.

A Danish man was jailed for a week, in Malaysia, on Monday, after pleading guilty to breaking a law against “fake news”, the first person to be punished under the controversial legislation.

Legislative rascality has a long, chequered history. Perhaps one of the most dramatic in the Senate in the last 18 years happened on the watch of Chuba Okadigbo, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried by means fair and foul to remove Okadigbo as president of the Senate.

Malaysia on Monday approved a law against “fake news” that would allow for prison of up to six years for offenders, shrugging off critics who say it was aimed at curbing dissent and free speech ahead of a general election.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Saturday warned the national president of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, against holding the proposed Igbo summit in Enugu or be prepared to face the consequences from IPOB youths.

Singapore passed a law on Wednesday making it possible to ban photographs or videos of terror attack sites or communicating information about security operations amid criticism from rights groups that the move could curb press freedoms.

Nigerian Government has been enjoined to reactivate the Nigerian Press Council and review its Code of Conduct so as to enable it discharge its duties effectively as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Peoples Democratic Party has raised a cry against the continuous harassment, arrests and detention of its members in various parts of the country by agents and officials of the All Progressives Congress-controlled Federal Government and sought the intervention of the international community.

A faith-based human right group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the detained Abuja Bureau Chief of Independent Newspapers, Tony Ezimakor, from the custody of Department of State Services (DSS).

A former governor of Jigawa State and Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Sule Lamido, on Saturday kicked off his electioneering campaign by declaring at a rally that he was confident of becoming Nigeria’s president after the 2019 general elections.

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria, says the inspector-general of police has defamed Kassim Afegbua by declaring him wanted as if he is a fugitive.

Gambian police arrested a university lecturer and kept him in overnight detention for questioning the president's ability to maintain national security in a newspaper interview, he told AFP on Thursday.

A year ago, Gambians wept for joy as Yahya Jammeh went into exile, bringing the curtain down on a brutal 22-year rule.

Authorities in northern China have demolished a Christian megachurch in a move denounced by a religious rights group as “Taliban-style persecution”.

Several people have been killed and more than 120 others arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo as security forces violently dispersed protests by opposition and religious groups calling for the resignation of the country's president.

Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, under the leadership of Mr Uchenna Madu has berated the British High Commissioner, Mr Paul Arkwright, for a statement credited to him that British Government will not support secession or break up of Nigeria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia would respond in kind to what he said were Washington’s measures to restrict the freedom of speech of Russian media organisations operating on U.S soil.