Abstract
This study is situated within the normative theoretical framework, which focuses on the press in nations where the press is expected to assume the coloration of the political milieu within which it finds itself. The British colonial masters discovered the power of the press in the early 16th century and devised numerous schemes to restrict publication. Such policies were extended to her majesty’s colonies; for instance, the law of sedition in Nigeria. Freedom of the press is a right but it is a right that has been won only through many hard-fought legal battles like the one fought by John Peter Zenger in the seditious trial of 1735. There were several such trials for sedition in the colonies, and despite the acquittal of John Peter Zenger, the British colonial government went ahead to adopt such laws in her colonial territories. This was exemplified in the seditious offence ordinance that was in force in 1909 in Southern Nigeria. This study adopts the historical, legal research and critical paradigm technique to examine how the law of sedition has fared in inhibiting press freedom in Nigeria since 1914. The study provides an understanding of how colonial influence may affect laws regulating how the media function in independent States.
Highlights
The task of this paper is to examine the law of sedition and how it has influenced the notion of press freedom and other laws regulating the press in Nigeria
6.1 The Relationship between the Seditious Offence Ordinance and other Repressive Press Laws in Successive governments in Nigeria Perhaps the best way to describe this relationship is captured in the words of Akinola who noted inter-alia: The sedition law has been a common tool in the hands of successive governments in Nigeria to harass the Nigerian press
Justice Olatawura said: “It is my view that the law of sedition, which has derogated from the freedom of speech guaranteed under this constitution is inconsistent with the 1979, Constitution, more so when this cannot lead to a public disorder, as envisaged under section 41(a) of the 1979 constitution we are no longer the illiterates or the mob society our colonial masters had in mind when the law was promulgated
Summary
His study explored the effects of laws introduced mainly to foster British colonial hegemony against the background of the aspiration to guarantee social justice and forge a “modern” regime of rights and liberties for native subjects in the colony He probed the circumstances that made the rhetoric of rights and liberty imperative for both the colonial regime that employed it to legitimize the empire and the African elites who appropriated it to strengthen their demands for representation and self-rule. Part of this freedom has constitutional support: Section 3(1) of 1979 of the Nigerian constitution states that, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart idea and information without interference” This watch-dog role has variously come under government intimidation especially from hostile administrations and those who hold public offices and who shy away from criticism. Criticism is indispensable in a free society” (Justice Alatuwara, in Nwankwo VS The State, 1985, cited in Akinola, 2014)
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