President Muhammadu Buhari  previously served as the nation’s head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power in a military coup d’état.

That he has zero tolerance for free speech is not a new development. As the military ruler, he enacted the famous Decree 4 that was used to send many journalists to jail, now in 2017 the same thing is happening through the new NBC code.

Though the APC promised not to gag the press according to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, erstwhile APC National Publicity Secretary while reacting to Buhari’s banning of AIT after the 2015 elections, they’ve done that already.

Kindly permit me to unearth the similarities in the 1983 decree 4 and the 2017 New NBC code to dispel their claims.

1- Decree 4 Section 1, sub-section (ii) States that any station for wireless telegraphy which conveys or transmits any sound or visual message, rumour, report or statement, being a message, rumour, report or statement which is FALSE in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Government or the Government of a state or a public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offence under this Decree.

NBC 2017- Stations allowing callers to air “perceived hate speech” to be fined ₦500,000 per incident.

2-Decree 4 Section 2, sub-sections (i) of the law provided that:

Where the Head of the federal military government is satisfied that the unrestricted circulation in Nigeria of a newspaper is or may be detrimental to the interest of the federation or any part thereof, he may by order published in the Gazette, prohibit the circulation in the federation or in any part thereof, as the case may require, of that newspaper; and, unless any other period is prescribed in the code, the prohibition shall continue for a period of twelve months unless sooner revoked or extended, as the case may require.

NBC 2017- Newspaper reviews limited to once daily. This is aimed at reducing the penetration of information contained in newspapers across  the country, which also limits information dissemination and may not be in favor of the government.

That’s another means of stopping newspaper circulation.

3-Decree 4 Section 8 specified punishments for offenders of the decree, and provided for a prison term of up to two years without the option of a fine. In the case of news media corporations, the decree provided for a fine of not less than 10,000 naira

NBC 2017- Stations allowing callers to air “perceived hate speech” to be fined ₦500,000 per incident.

This comparison has shown that the federal government has brought back the dreaded Decree 4 into our political sphere, it’s left to the government to prove otherwise.