From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, yesterday, said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is not opposed to constructive and objective criticisms.
The minister, therefore, urged newsmen to refrain from fake news and sensationalism in reporting issues and events in the country.
Malami, who stated this during the 2021 national conference of National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC), Abuja chapter, said the President Buhari administration considered constructive and objective criticisms as integral part of good governance, especially where appropriate solutions are proffered.
The AGF, represented by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, said while the judiciary was expected to look into issues brought before it for proper adjudication, the media is expected to give balanced, unbiased and untainted reports of activities unfolding in the society.
He said the Federal Government had done everything within the constitutional provisions to ensure the right to access to information, freedom of expression and especially press freedom.
“This can be seen from the disappearance of incessant harassment, intimidation, molestation, arrests and prosecution of media professionals as used to be the practice in the past regimes. This fact is attested to by the 2020 report of the Committee to Protect Journalists that Nigeria is no longer in the list of countries with impunity for crimes against journalists. The report maintained that Nigeria is the only country in the globe that get off the index from 2019,” he said.