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The attack on press freedom in Anambra

Published

2 years ago

February 16, 2024

Whirlwindnews

By Chekwube Nzomiwu

The recent destruction of newsstands in major cities in Anambra State is another sad testament to the attack on press freedom by the administration of Governor Charles Soludo. According to media reports, the destruction of the newsstands by agents of the state government, left many hapless newspaper vendors stranded, as they had no other place to go and make their daily livelihood. In addition, the poor vendors incurred huge losses from the damages to their newspapers during the unfortunate incident.

This development calls for concern from all well-meaning Nigerians and members of the international community who are committed to the preservation of press freedom, which is a very important pillar of the rule of law, and by extension, democracy. Without press freedom, the protection of fundamental human rights will be a mirage.

Press freedom offers individuals and organisations, the right to express, publish, and share information, ideas and opinion without fear of government censorship or government interference. It is guaranteed in Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

The above-mentioned section says, “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times, be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.” Section 39 of the same constitution, which recognises the freedom of speech, accords every Nigerian the right to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinion.

The three traditional functions of the media-information, education and entertainment-underscore their importance in the society. Besides the traditional functions, the modern media perform other functions, such as mobilisation and surveillance.

Stressing the importance of the press during the parliamentary debate on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of Great Britian in 1787, British political thinker and statesman, Edmund Burke described the press as the Fourth Estate. The term emanated from the European concept of the three estates of the realm-the clergy, the nobility and the commoners.

Fast-forward to today, power in a democracy is divided between the legislature, executive and the judiciary. The position of the media (trained journalists) as the fourth estate has not changed, regardless of the emergence of citizen journalism, brought about by constant technological advancement. The reason is simple. Democracy thrives on the ability of the people to access information.

Hence, it is disturbing that the government of Anambra State under a Governor of academic extraction, has become notorious for denying the people access to information. The Soludo administration commenced its offensive against the media with the closure of the National Light Newspaper, owned by the Anambra State Government. Until Soludo came to power, the newspaper was funded by successive governors, from Chinwoke Mbadinuju to Sen. Dr. Chris Ngige, Mr. Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.

Having rendered the state owned newspaper moribund, several denials notwithstanding, the Soludo government appears hell-bent on making the environment unconducive for privately owned print media organisations, to perform their constitutional role and carry out their lawful businesses in Anambra State. It beats my imagination that the same government that committed itself to press freedom before the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Awka, in July last year (2023), could embark on the destruction of newsstands less than a year after.

Quoting Governor Soludo’s Edo State born Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, as reported by Michael Ovat in Nigerian Tribune online on July 25, 2023, “NUJ should not be confrontational. Anambra Government are not at war with NUJ. Soludo is not wicked and reckless as portrayed by the State chapter of NUJ. NUJ and journalists as a whole have been part of this government to make Anambra a livable and prosperous state in Nigeria. Soludo has promised that journalists would not suffer any form of intimidation in their duties under his administration.”

Unless Soludo does not want his words to be taken seriously, he is educated enough to know that the destruction of newsstands amounts to intimidation of journalists. The journalists are not just writing for the fun of it. They are performing the role assigned to them by Section 22 of the Constitution under the “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” on one hand, and on the other hand, want their newspapers to be patronised to generate revenue from the media organisations paying their salaries.

Yes, some newspapers are running online editions, but majority of Ndi-Anambra who fall within the middle and low-income classes, cannot afford data to read online at this critical time of economic depression, caused by the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira, culminating in “very dangerous” galloping inflation, that has eroded incomes. Also, I have not heard of any part of Awka, the Anambra State capital or Onitsha, the commercial city, not to speak of interior parts of the State, that enjoys free access to internet.

As a former Chief Economic Adviser to the President and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)/ de facto Minister of National Planning, it is not in doubt that Professor Soludo has travelled far and wide. Let him tell us anywhere in the world where newsstands are not allowed. Heathrow Airport is the biggest airport in the United Kingdom and the fourth busiest in the world. All the four terminals have newsstands. So, what’s the fuss in Anambra State about newsstands?

If anything, Anambra being the “Light of the Nation” should be a model for other states and even the Federal Government to follow when it comes to respecting freedom of the press. Anambra is the home of foremost nationalist, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the great Zik of Africa, Owelle of Onitsha and founder of the West African Pilot, which revolutionised the newspaper industry in the entire West Africa. There were also other titles under his Zik’s Group.

Anambra also produced great journalists like M.C.K Ajuluchukwu, Mokwugo Okoye and Osita Agwuna, may God bless their gentle souls. It was the writings of these great and courageous men and their comrades from other parts of Nigeria that sent the British packing from Nigeria in 1960, to pave the way for Nigeria’s independence. By the way, the last time I checked, history was not being taught in many schools in Anambra state, although Professor Soludo announced the reintroduction of the subject in the school curriculum when he assumed office in 2022.

Finally, I don’t think that Soludo being an academic, needs to be reminded that newsstands are informal lecture halls for educating the people. I therefore passionately call on him to order his agents to halt further destruction of newsstands in the State. In areas where they have been destroyed already, he should quickly direct the erection of new modernised stands for the vendors to restore their means of livelihood. This will convince us that he is not taking Anambra State away from liberal democracy and moving us towards ‘putinisation” a term popularised by former President of European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

Nzomiwu, a development communicator and political scientist, wrote from Awka, Anambra State

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The Sundiata Post Model (2): Historical and intellectual foundations of a knowledge-producing newsroom

Published

12 hours ago

July 12, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Every institutional framework has a history, even when it introduces something new. Ideas rarely emerge in complete isolation; they arise from deep, structural conversations that began long before us, evolving across generations as societies confront new realities, systemic shocks, and unanswered questions.

The Sundiata Post Model is no exception. Although formally introduced in the previous essay as an institutional framework for media-based knowledge production, its intellectual roots extend much further back. They lie within a long tradition of journalism’s engagement with ideas and society, while simultaneously responding to a distinctly twenty-first-century challenge: the transformation of the newsroom in the age of artificial intelligence, digital knowledge architectures, and global scholarly networks.
The question at the heart of this essay is therefore not whether journalism has ever produced ideas—history provides an unequivocal answer to that. The more critical question is whether the modern newsroom can become an institution deliberately organised to generate original analytical constructs that contribute simultaneously to journalism, deep scholarship, and public policy. That is a different, more demanding question altogether.

Nigeria’s Tradition of the Newspaper as an Intellectual Institution

Long before the emergence of today’s hyper-accelerated digital media, some of Nigeria’s most influential newspapers were already serving purposes far beyond the passive reporting of daily events.
The press architectures established by pioneers like Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo—both of whom I previously discussed, alongside Chinweizu, as members of Nigeria’s rare tradition of framework builders—became foundational vehicles through which sophisticated ideas about nationalism, constitutional development, socio-economic planning, democracy, and self-government entered the public consciousness. Their publications did not merely describe political transformation; they actively generated the conceptual architecture that shaped it.

Crucially, they achieved this by building powerful media infrastructures designed to carry these ideas at scale. Azikiwe did not just publish in Lagos; he deployed a sweeping, cross-regional syndicate anchored by the West African Pilot alongside a network of provincial pillars including the Eastern Guardian in Port Harcourt, the Nigerian Spokesman in Onitsha, and the Southern Nigeria Defender in Warri. Similarly, Awolowo founded the Nigerian Tribune in 1949 as a highly structured institutional vehicle to systematically articulate socio-political theory and regional constitutional destiny.

In his seminal work, Renascent Africa (1937), Azikiwe laid out a broad intellectual and ideological vision that extended far beyond the immediate horizon of standard journalism, charting a course for mental emancipation and African self-determination. A decade later, Awolowo’s Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947) demonstrated how a publisher and institutional thinker could systematically articulate a rigorous, structured constitutional vision for a developing nation.

This historical experience reminds us that journalism in Nigeria has never been confined solely to stenography. At critical turning points in the nation’s history, newspapers operated as the primary intellectual laboratories through which society debated its structural future.

This tradition of intellectual leadership through journalism is not merely of historical interest. In The Sunday Stew essay mentioned earlier, ‘The Insecurity Triad: Azikiwe, Awolowo, and Chinweizu — Nigeria’s Elite Class of Framework Builders’, I argued that Nigeria has, on rare occasions, produced public intellectuals who moved beyond commentary to construct enduring analytical frameworks. Azikiwe and Awolowo exemplified that earlier tradition, while Chinweizu demonstrated that independent conceptual innovation could continue outside formal state institutions and conventional academic structures. The present essay extends that argument by asking a different question: can the contemporary newsroom itself become an institution deliberately organised for systematic framework building and knowledge production?

Yet, an important distinction must be recognised between that era and our contemporary challenge:
The Nationalist Press primarily advanced political ideas, anti-colonial mobilisation, and national aspirations.
The Sundiata Post Model represents a shift from ideological mobilisation to systematic institutional knowledge production. It asks whether an independent newsroom can generate original analytical constructs capable of standing up to the rigorous validation of the global academic ecosystem while serving active policy discourse.
The distinction is subtle, but fundamental. It marks the evolution from political journalism to scholar-journalism.

Journalism and the Life of Ideas

The structural relationship between journalism and ideas extends well beyond regional borders. To understand the global intellectual foundations of this model, we must reconcile two complementary traditions of public thought—both of which proved invaluable in shaping the conceptual foundations of my Trinity of State Decay (TSD) theory.

In framing the mind dimension of the Money–Land–Mind dynamic of the TSD, I found the works of Walter Lippmann and Hannah Arendt particularly illuminating, insightful, and enriching. Few journalists have shaped modern thinking about public communication as profoundly as Lippmann. Throughout his six-decade career in American journalism, he demonstrated that journalism could become far more than a chronicle of events; it could serve as an instrument for decoding how societies acquire knowledge, construct public opinion, and navigate increasingly complex realities.

In his foundational classic, Public Opinion (1922), Lippmann demonstrated that journalism could contribute not merely rapid information, but macro-level interpretation, permanently altering how we view the relationship between media, knowledge, and public policy. It is this Lippmannesque understanding on how information is filtered, misperceived, and understood that informs the epistemic foundations of the TSD.

From a different, deeply philosophical tradition, Hannah Arendt, a political theorist and independent scholar whose ideas reached wide audiences through public intellectual magazines and cultural journals, devoted her life’s work to understanding the structural anatomy of politics, authority, institutional decay, and the conditions that make collective civic life possible.

In The Human Condition (1958), Arendt examined human action, public space, and the enduring value of disciplined conceptual inquiry in explaining political reality far beyond the fleeting nature of immediate headlines. Her profound insights into the erosion of institutional authority and the fragility of the public realm provide an important philosophical foundation for understanding the Trinity of State Decay’s vectors of systemic fragility.

Although operating within vastly different institutional environments, Lippmann and Arendt represented complementary pillars of intellectual rigor:
One demonstrated journalism’s unmatched capacity to shape and democratise public understanding.
The other demonstrated the enduring value of rigorous, uncompromised conceptual thinking regarding public life and the human world.

Together, they illuminate an important institutional possibility. If journalism can generate immediate public understanding, and disciplined inquiry can generate enduring concepts—as demonstrated by their influence on the conceptual foundations of the Trinity of State Decay—might there exist an institutional framework capable of integrating both traditions within a single, independent newsroom?

That synthesis is the exact intellectual domain of the Sundiata Post Model.

An Abuja Newsroom and a Contemporary Question

The Sundiata Post Model emerged not from an insular academic department, a government research institute, or a foreign-funded policy think tank, but from an independent newsroom in Abuja. That geographical and operational fact is highly significant.

The framework did not begin as an abstract theory searching for practical application. It emerged from journalism itself—from the lived, daily experience of reporting, investigating, analysing, and reflecting on the severe structural forces shaping Nigeria and the wider Global South.

Over time, The Sunday Stew gradually evolved beyond a weekly opinion column into a platform for systematic, empirical inquiry. Through that deliberate evolution emerged a succession of original analytical frameworks:
•The Insecurity Triad: A conceptual framework explaining how kidnapping (Money), banditry (Land), and terrorism (Mind) function as mutually reinforcing dimensions of contemporary insecurity, generating parallel systems of violence, governance, and authority;
•The Trinity of State Decay (TSD): A macro-theoretical formulation explaining how the interaction between the Institutional Mirage, the Shadow Order, and the Money–Land–Mind dynamic drives the decoupling of formal sovereignty from effective state authority, and
•The Decoupling Sovereignty Index (DSI): An indigenous, multidimensional measurement framework designed to quantify the extent to which effective sovereignty has decoupled from formal state authority across subnational territories.

What gradually became apparent was that these were not isolated intellectual exercises. They were the deliberate products of an emerging institutional philosophy developed through the Sundiata Post Intelligence Unit (SPIU).

More importantly, these constructs did not emerge as a single research project conceived in advance. They appeared sequentially, each responding to new empirical observations while simultaneously expanding the analytical capacity of the newsroom itself. The Insecurity Triad provided a structured lens for understanding the interconnected dimensions of insecurity. The TSD extended that inquiry into a broader theory of institutional authority and governance. The DSI subsequently translated those theoretical insights into an operational framework capable of empirical assessment. Viewed together, this progression revealed something larger than the individual frameworks themselves. It demonstrated that the newsroom had begun to develop an internal capacity for cumulative knowledge production, with each construct building upon and extending the intellectual foundations laid by its predecessor.

The fundamental question therefore shifted from “What new framework has been developed?” to “What kind of newsroom structure makes the systematic development of such frameworks possible?” The answer is the Sundiata Post Model.

A New Institutional Proposition

The Sundiata Post Model does not argue that journalism should become academia, nor does it suggest that scholarly research should migrate from the university to the newsroom. Instead, it advances a new institutional proposition:

The Core Proposition: An independent media institution can systematically integrate high-velocity journalism, original qualitative research, conceptual innovation, and global scholarly dissemination within a single institutional framework, contributing simultaneously to
informed public discourse and the international knowledge ecosystem. The Sundiata Post experience demonstrates the practical viability of this proposition.

This proposition reflects neither a rejection of journalism’s traditional role nor an attempt to merely imitate academic institutions. Rather, it represents a strategic institutional adaptation to the changing architecture of knowledge itself.

In an era when global digital repositories, artificial intelligence discovery layers, academic networks, and news organisations increasingly intersect, the traditional boundaries separating journalism from formal knowledge production have become entirely permeable. The Sundiata Post Model seeks to explore what becomes possible when those boundaries are approached not as rigid barriers, but as unprecedented opportunities for intellectual sovereignty.

The historical journey from Azikiwe and Awolowo to Lippmann and Arendt reveals a long-standing, symbiotic relationship between journalism and ideas. The Sundiata Post Model does not seek to replicate any of those legacy traditions perfectly. It seeks to answer a contemporary institutional question:
What becomes possible when an independent newsroom deliberately organises itself as a primary knowledge-producing institution?

The answer begins with philosophy. The next essay examines structure.

Trust is sacred. Stay seasoned

•Dr. Max Amuchie is a Scholar-Journalist, Media CEO, Lead Researcher at the Sundiata Post Intelligence Unit (SPIU), and an Expert Member and Peer Reviewer at ScienceOpen. He is the architect of The Insecurity Triad framework for African security analysis as well as the Trinity of State Decay theory, and the Decoupling Sovereignty Index (DSI)—original frameworks for understanding, categorising, and measuring conflict, state decay, and sovereignty in the Global South. He writes ‘The Sunday Stew’, a weekly syndicated column on faith, character, and the structural forces that shape society, with a focus on Nigeria, Africa, and the Global South in a changing world.

X (formerly Twitter): @MaxAmuchie | Email: max.a@sundiatapost.com | Tel: +234(0)8053069436

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Don’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!

Published

2 days ago

July 11, 2026

Whirlwindnews

In a quick riposte on Saturday, Dave Umahi, Minister of Works, has cautioned Nigerians to be circumspect in the manner they react to the story of the death of a female student in his home in Ebonyi State, warning against the temptation of jumping to conclusion.

Conveying his position on the highly-volatile matter through Francis Nwaze, his spokesman, Umahi, former Governor of Ebonyi State and a key figure in the government of President Bola Tinubu, said caution was needed to enable the police conduct unfettered investigation into the matter.

It was his response to breaking of how one Mary Habila, a female physiotherapist reportedly died in his palatial home at Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, on June 27, hours after arriving the day before.

Nwaze, a Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, specifically cautioned against speculations by “tale bearers,” while conveying the Minister’s shock over the matter and his eagerness for the authorities to get at the root of the matter through forensic investigations.

He wrote in the statement: “The attention of the Media Office of the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has been drawn to a publication by a publication concerning the unfortunate passing of Miss Mary Habila in Uburu, Ebonyi State, alleging that the circumstances surrounding her death were shrouded in secrecy.

“The Honourable Minister received the news with profound shock and sadness and has since extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. For the avoidance of doubt, immediately the unfortunate incident occurred, appropriate emergency steps were taken. Medical personnel, including the Chief Medical Director of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, were contacted without delay, while the Nigeria Police was promptly notified in accordance with the law.

“Following confirmation of Miss Habila’s passing, the Honourable Minister personally received her parents, conveyed his sincere condolences, and advised that an autopsy be conducted to scientifically establish the exact cause of death. At the time, however, the family declined the recommendation.

“It is important to clarify that Miss Mary Habila and Miss Anita Baski are employees of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, who had been on secondment to the Federal Ministry of Works as physiotherapists for the past three years until the unfortunate passing of Miss Habila.

“Following the recent developments and in the interest of ensuring that the truth is established beyond doubt, the Honourable Minister has again reiterated his position that an autopsy must be conducted. He remains convinced that this is the most credible and responsible path to resolving all questions surrounding the unfortunate incident.

“We therefore urge the public to exercise restraint, refrain from speculation or premature conclusions, and allow the relevant authorities to carry out their responsibilities without interference. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of the deceased, and we pray that God grants them the strength to bear this irreparable loss.”

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BREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!

Published

2 days ago

July 11, 2026

Whirlwindnews

The circumstances that led to the sudden death of Mary Habbila, a Nigerian female student died in the Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, home of Dave Umahi, Minister of Works, has now thrown the entire household and environs into serious quandary.

SaharaReporters, which first broke the revealed that the incident, which happened since June 27 this year, has been shrouded in secrecy, with both the Ebonyi State Government and the state police command maintaining silence over the matter.

The incident, the report, added, took place barely a day after Habbila and another woman, Anita Baski, both from Kaduna State, were reportedly brought to the minister’s residence, triggering a police investigation, with the case transferred from the Ohaozara Divisional Police Headquarters to the Ebonyi State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Abakaliki.

Habbila and Baski reportedly arrived at the minister’s residence on June 26 to “attend” to him, only for Habbila to be found dead inside the residence the following morning under circumstances investigators are still trying to establish.

Police sources were quoted by the paper as saying that Jonathan Bawado, a police officer who serves as Senator Umahi’s Personal Assistant and previously worked as his Aide-de-Camp (ADC) during his tenure as Governor of Ebonyi State, alerted medical personnel after Habbila was discovered unresponsive.

Subsequently, a doctor and an ambulance were dispatched to the residence, while Tobechukwu Godwin, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ohaozara Police Division, was notified of the incident, the report said, adding that at the hospital Chihurumnanya Alo, a Professor and Consultant Public Health Physician, Infectious Diseases Specialist and Chief Medical Director of the David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital (DUFUTH), Uburu, was also alerted about the incident.

The police who subsequently conveyed Habbila’s body to a mortuary, were said to have handed over the identification tag attached to Habbila’s to the Ebonyi State Police Command by the said DPO, as part of the ongoing investigation.

SaharaReporters, quoted a senior police officer, with knowledge of the case as saying: “The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Abakaliki,” but, however declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigation.