SIR: For many Nigerians, the shackles and gloves come off on social media: posts are lengthy and lacerating; the trolls are tireless and merciless; the criticism of government is ceaseless and scathing; business opportunities are endless and rewarding; the hunts are generally fast and furious. All these bring an air of freedom previously unheard of in Nigeria‘s hitherto suffocating civic space.
The Constitution gives leverage to the media to serve the country and its citizens and to be free while doing that. It also guarantees the rights Nigerians have to freely express themselves. The salient provisions of Nigeria‘s grundnorm pay timeless tribute to the inalienable right every human being must enjoy to freely express themselves if life is to be lived fully and with dignity.
However, from the beginning, this right has always been a battle ground between dictatorship and democracy, dignity and indignity, between light and darkness. While many governments, at different periods, around the world have always railed at this right, those outside the government who make it their life‘s work to hold governments to account have always done all in their power to uphold the right and demand the vigilance and intervention of the courts to guarantee respect for this critical right.
So, journalists, writers, artistes, activists and all those who have dared to stand up for this right are hunted and hounded. Many have been imprisoned and many killed, with a great amount of innocent blood...
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