Media’s Doctrine Of Necessity And The Punch Editorial (1)

By Amaso Jack

“In the print category, the Punch Newspaper beat the Guardian Newspaper and Daily Trust to win the Babatunde Jose Prize for the Newspaper of the Year…. Earlier, the chairman of NMMA Panel of Assessors, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, gave an assessment of the entries submitted.”

https://www.channelstv.com/2019/12/15/breaking-channels-television-wins-tv-station-of-the-year/amp/

BACKGROUND:

From the perspective of POWER (within the context of Nigeria), the first estate of the realm the EXECUTIVE, subjugated the second the JUDICIARY, while the third LEGISLATURE put up weak resistance. Just one component of the fourth estate of the realm the PRESS, stood up to the clear fascist move of the EXECUTIVE, that component was The Punch.

Prior to the French Revolution of 1789–1799, there were three estates of the REALM,

1 The first estate that consisted of the Monarchy and the clergy.

2 The second estate the nobles.

3 The third, peasants.

In Russia, there were four estates of the realm

1 The first estate consisted of the Monarchy and the clergy.

2 The second estate had nobles.

3 They were the burghers better known as bourgeoisie

“The burghers of a town or city are the people who live there, especially the

richer or more respectable people.”

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/burgher

4 The rural peasants: It is now clearer why the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 arose to sweep away this class system.

Governance has since evolved to a system of checks and balances

President Muhammadu Buhari

Following the evolution of governance from pre French revolution, where the first estate of realm (by Pareto’s 20/80 principle) held the whole realm captive (by their whips and caprices) were swept away, only for Hitler; the fascist to attempt to take humanity back to those days of the Holy Roman empire.

It is instructive to note that Hitler named his 1941 invasion of Russia from June 22 to December 5, after Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, from (1155 to 1190) a clear attempt to take the world back. There exist striking similarities between Hitler and Buhari (that will be for another article).

Was the Punch Newspaper Paper correct in pointing out Nigeria’s slide to fascism considering “Democracy dies in darkness”? The payoff of the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Following the desecration of the Court of Justice Ojukwu by DSS; which amounted to an affront on the Judiciary, The Punch in its editorial of December 11, 2019, it titled:

“Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand”: wrote:

“As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, and digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/buharis-lawlessness-our-stand/amp/

JAMIU FOLARIN’S RESPONSE:

In his response titled:

“PUNCH VIOLATES JOURNALISM ETHICS WITH ANTI-BUHARI EDITORIAL”

Jamiu Folarin wrote:

“I read with shock the editorial of the Punch newspaper of Wednesday 11th December, 2019 titled: “Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand” taking an editorial decision to “prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime.”

“As journalism educator with over a decade experience as a journalist, I submit that it is a clear case of unethical practice if not even illegal for a newspaper to take such an editorial stand.”

WHO IS JAMIU FOLARIN?

“Jamiu Folarin….Lecturer and Researcher, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria”

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=82iI5XwAAAAJ&hl=en

CONFLICT: JAMIU VS AKINFELEYE …PUNCH! THE 2019 NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR

In a contrary position to that of Jamiu Folarin, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye’s  NMMA panel of assessors, named Punch the 2019 winner of Babatunde Jose Prize for the Newspaper of the Year.

PROFESSOR RALPH AKINFELEYE:

Sola Bodunrin, of the online medium Legit; under the headline: “Ralph Akinfeleye: Nigerian elected 1st African member of World Journalism Education Council”

Wrote:

“Professor Ralph Akinfeleye has been elected to the Council of the World Journalism Congress

– Akinfeleye is the first African to be elected into the council.

– Until his election, Akinfeleye is the current chairman of the centre of excellence in multimedia and cinematography/Unilag radio 103.1FM and television.

Professor Ralph Afolabi Akinfeleye of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has been elected to the prestigious Council of the World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) for the next three years. He is the first African to be so elected.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.legit.ng/amp/1254045-ralph-akinfeleye-nigerian-elected-1st-african-member-world-journalism-education-council.html

PROMINENCE OF PEDIGREE.

Ralph Afolabi Akinfeleye, by his pedigree as the “1st African member of World Journalism Education Council”, under who whose leadership The Punch was named the Newspaper of the year 2019 by the evidence of channels has a stronger PROMINENCE OF PEDIGREE over Jamiu, considering the evolution of governance from the pre French Revolution days to the check and balancing role of the press!

TWO CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS: THE BUILD UP TO MEDIA’S DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY:

1 THE SILENCE OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE FEDERATION: THE FIRST BUILD UP TO THE MEDIA’S DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY

The most shocking reaction to the “DESECRATION RAPE” of the Judiciary is INDIFFERNCE of the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Tanko Muhammad. He had two opportunities to respond, he did nothing! Absolutely nothing!!

On the contrary in:

• Words
• Body language
• Disposition

The Chief Justice of the FEDERATION, Justice Tanko Muhammad remained mute on the matter and has remained so ever since!

As the head of the Judiciary he should have (as the lowest reaction) issued a strongly worded statement, but what did he do?

FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2019: THE DAY THE CHIEF JUSTICE KEPT SILENT IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE

The first lost opportunity of the CJN.

Ade Adesomoju of The Punch, in a report he titled:

“It’s better to resign than to compromise, CJN warns new Chief Judges”, published on December 13, 2019, wrote:

“The Chief Justice of Nigeria , Justice Tanko Muhammad , on Friday , charged the newly inaugurated Chief Judges of the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court to help themselves first for God to help them to justify their oath of office.”

https://punchng.com/help-yourselves-for-god-to-help-you-cjn-tells-new-chief-judges/

ANALYSIS:

He had an opportunity to speak at an event that involved the High Court, the very court that was desecrated, he chose to say nothing!

Would it be too much to expect the Chief Justice of Nigeria to shut down the judicial system within hours of the event, until the DSS boss is asked to step aside for an inquiry (in the spirit of doctrine of necessity) for the legislature to unravel what happened between the Judiciary and the Executive?

Such an evasion has never happened, so the doctrine of necessity would have been a logical response by the Chief Justice……..He chose SILENCE, by that he has etched himself in the Judicial history of Nigeria as Justice Tanko Muhammad the IRRESPONSIBLE!

Such an inquiry should have been led by no less a personality than the Speaker of the House of Representatives…. again in the spirit of the doctrine of necessity.

No such action was taken by the Judiciary, on the contrary, he blew his second opportunity to respond.

Alfred Olufemi in his December 13, 2019, story published in Premium Times under the headline: “Nigeria’s chief justice wants more Shari’a in constitution”

Provided the following Insight:

“The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Muhammad, has called for the amendment of the constitution to accommodate more aspects of the Shari’a law.

Mr Muhammad said this on Thursday at the 20th Annual Judges Conference that held at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The theme of the two-day conference was ‘Documentation of Contracts in Islamic Law: Procedure, Sample Precedents and Practice.”

INSIGHT TO DERELICTION OF DUTY

Following  the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor  Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. Gen. Walter C. Short were removed for dereliction of duty.

Philip Shenon, in his May 26, 1999 article, in the New York Times, under the headline:

“Senate Clears 2 Pearl Harbor ‘Scapegoats’ “, gave this insight to dereliction of duty:

“…the two senior military officers … were accused of dereliction of duty as a result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 …were blamed for failing to anticipate the devastating Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.”

After the surprise attack, the two men were relieved of their commands and forced to retire from the military at reduced ranks,”

2 THE UNTOUCHABLE STATUS OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF DSS: THE SECOND BUILD UP TO THE MEDIA’S DOCTRINE OF NECESSITY

It must be stated CLEARLY that following the “DESICRATION RAPE” by the DSS, the DG DSS Yusuf Magaji Bichi, has not been asked to step aside for investigations to commence as is the conventional practice

It should be noted not even Gestapo (Adolf Hitler’s) secret police, of his Nazi fascist regime (called the third reich) DESECRATED the JUDICIARY!

GESTAPO :

“a secret-police organization employing underhanded and terrorist methods against persons suspected of disloyalty”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gestapo

The actions of the DSS fits into merriam-webster’s definition of Gestapo, when their activities of raiding the homes of judges, the blockade of the National Assembly and the invasion of the court are factored in.

When the Judiciary that was raped kept quiet and the Legislature put up a weak resistance, must the PRESS take Jamiu Folarin’s ACADEMIC RESPONSE in the face of fascist realities?

Remember, FASCISM led the world to World War 2, the bloodiest human conflict that required CAPITALISM and COMMUNISM (political economic enemies, that fought a 44 year long cold war after the defeat of FASCISM) to partner as allies. The cold war was between 1947-1991.

Fascism is the desecration of democratic values, the responsibility of the PRESS is to hold the other estates of the realm accountable

Continues