The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to utilize his "good office and leadership position to immediately reverse the unlawful ban on 25 journalists and media houses from covering the presidential villa and restore the accreditation of those affected". “To publicly instruct the officials in the presidential villa to permit journalists and media outlets to freely do their jobs and discharge their constitutional duty of holding those in power to account,” SERAP urged him.
An ultimatum of 48 hours has been issued by SERAP to Tinubu concerning the ban on 25 media outlets from Aso Rock. The organisation through its deputy director, Kolawale Oluwadare disclosed this in a letter signed by him on Sunday.
SERAP responded to the withdrawal of accreditation for 25 journalists to cover the President’s activities. The ban includes media organizations such as Vanguard, Galaxy TV, Ben TV, MITV, ITV Abuja, PromptNews, ONTV, and Liberty.
SERAP called on Tinubu to publicly instruct officials at the Presidential Villa to reverse the ban, stating that media freedom is a fundamental aspect of Nigeria’s democracy. According to SERAP, the ban on media outlets must be lifted in the interest of public accountability.
“We kindly request that the recommended actions be taken within 48 hours of receiving and/or publishing this letter,” the statement said. “If we do not hear from you by then, SERAP will consider taking appropriate legal action to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.”
