Former presidential spokesperson. Reuben Abati has described the Buhari-led administration as a regime of secrecy.
According to him, the regime is violating the constitution by trying to restrict the freedom of the citizens.
The spokesperson while speaking at the launch of a recent report by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), on Thursday said; “People are embarrassed, because despite the fact that the democratic dispensation is supposed to expand the civic space and the scope of freedom — since we have in office persons who have sworn an oath to defend and protect the Constitution — it is the same persons that are violating the constitution and restricting the scope of human freedom.
“We are running a regime of secrecy, and if you’ve been in government like I had, the mindset there is that there is something they call ‘the need to know. So, government officials determine what they think you should know. That itself defeats the objective of an open society, of an open government.
“So, we are not running an open government; we’re running a closed government.”
He also condemned the series of attacks on journalists, adding that the government has made it difficult to hold public officials accountable.
“We don’t find that public support in the country today. Journalists under section 22, have been given the constitutional right to hold government accountable, under Section 39,” he said.
“Freedom of speech is guaranteed, so that we have a society where there is a flow of information and people can hold their government accountable. But government will not allow that transparency and accountability; government has something to hide.”
SERAP’s report is titled “Something to Hide? Media Freedom Under Siege in Nigeria” details cases of harassment, intimidation, illegal arrest and detention of Journalists across the country.
It also documents how media practitioners; journalists have been attacked by Nigerian authorities while carrying out their duties.
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