Presidency Speaks On Buhari Shutting Down Popular Online Newspaper

The Presidency has denied reports that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is behind the shutting down of an independent online news platform.

Naija News reports that the Peoples Gazette had accused the Buhari administration of pressuring network service providers to cut off connections to its site.

Speaking on Arise TV The Morning Show, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stressed that the present administration will never tamper with the independence of the media.

Adesina dismissed the claims, stressing that the current administration will never tamper with the independence of the media.

He said, “…This government never clamped down on the media, it has never done, and will never do. This government will never tamper with the independence of the media, and freedom of the press. If any columnist is alleging that, it is within his right.

“Peoples gazette is a paper that lies everyday. It has lied against me, and has lied against several people. So why should we bother ourselves against a platform that is full of lies?”

The Peoples Gazzette stated that the disruption of its services has become a weapon of choice for the Nigerian government in recent times.

“This disruption, we are increasingly learning from top federal sources, was based on a directive, from the Nigerian government to MTN, Glo Mobile and other telecom firms, that sought an immediate blacklist of our web address as well as all other alternative domain names.

“Our internal assessments and notes from our readers indicate a total restriction on our website for people connecting via MTN, Glo Mobile and Airtel, i.e.: a vast majority of Nigerian Internet users,” the online newspaper had stated.