Atiku Abubakar has condemned the shutdown of online publication, Peoples Gazette.
The ordeal of the news outlet founded last year began Tuesday evening after Nigerian telecommunications networks barred internet subscribers from visiting the news portal. TODAY POLITICS confirmed this while accessing the web portal using MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9mobile internet services.
Samuel Ogundipe, the managing editor of Peoples Gazette in a statement said the censorship was as a result of the paper’s publications exposing misconducts particularly by state actors.
Mr Ogundipe said investigations indicted the Nigerian government through the National Communication Commission (NCC).
Weighing in, the opposition presidential candidate in the last general election said the development is unacceptable.
“I have received with concern, reports of technical censorship of @GazetteNGR, an independent online newspaper, ostensibly by agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria. This is not acceptable,” the former vice president said in a statement replicated on Twitter.
“Press freedom is not only a constitutionally guaranteed right but an integral component of democracy.
“The battle for the democracy that Nigeria enjoys today was fought and won with the Nigerian media standing in the frontline against anti-democratic forces.
“Sadly today, it seems as though our victory 22 years ago was half-won as there still exists oppressive tendencies of the past.
“As a Democrat and believer in press freedom, I denounce every attempt to gag the media in Nigeria.
“I do so because I know that our democracy is benchmarked on the principle of a republican government and that the people of Nigeria deserve to have access to information about the workings of the government,” he added.
