As much as I wanted to defend and commend my President on this issue, given that it is one thing to offer opinion on the way we are being governed, good or bad, so as to keep the government on its toes and make it accountable for its policy decisions so it can be more responsive to the public’s needs in a timely way but when I look at Mr. Ribadu’s current predicament wherein the IGP and the AGF are threatening to fire him if he dares bring a lawsuit against the Police Dept and the Attorney General. Then, it makes me wonder why should the President exercise his legitimate right to sue an errant newspaper but Mr. Ribadu would be denied the same legitimate right - sounds like double standards to me. One of the roles of the Press is to keep the public informed by reporting on government’s activities as well as making the public’s opinion known to the government so it makes better decision on behalf of the populace – an advantage of operating a democracy as opposed to a dictatorship. Certainly, there is a limit to the freedom of expression we enjoy to ensure that we do not abuse that right by saying or publishing untruth about anybody including govt officials - it would be wrong for the media to be glaringly partisan and take its role beyond what the constitution allows. Often, I have commented, via this allafrica.com medium, about “Yellow Journalism” - a biased opinion masquerading as objective fact, which involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion but often at the expense of truth telling and objectivity in reporting. On two occasions I have criticized the Leadership’s publication when, for instance, its Headline caption says that “Obasanjo is Indicted by the UN Court” - a witness testimonial at the trial of Charles Taylor is not an indictment of the former President. I remember advising the paper that it may be at risk of a major lawsuit if it continues this reckless behavior and it would behoove it to hire a full-time attorney as one of its staff so its daily reports are properly vetted before they go to press for publication and sold for public consumption. On other occasion, I observed the newspaper’s caption which does not match the entire body of the news story. Given our President’s past error of sending the SSS to harass erring journalist or TV stations, the President took the right democratic approach this time by taking this newspaper to court on charges of libel and or slander. I hope the Leadership newspaper would be more circumspect to check its facts more closely b4 publication and not be a mouth-piece of some corrupt elements like Atiku – the opportunist – who would rather destabilize the country in order to achieve his selfish ambition. Fortunately, such self-centered people never make it in Nigerian politics. Atiku is also known to buy some unscrupulous "pretend-journalist" that would write pretty much anything, as long as the price is right. Hopefully the Leadership would learn from its mistakes. Perhaps our President would learn the art of forbearance that the former President Obasanjo demonstrated despite the ordeal the general went thru in the hands of the members of the Press at the instigation of his treacherous deputy - Atiku. President Yaradua should also be thankful for the loyalty demonstrated by his VP - Jonathan. Moreover, we should remind the President of his promise almost a year ago to this day, at the First Conference of African Journalists in Abuja on November 12, 2007, wherein President Yar'Adua, who was represented by his Information & Communication Minister John Odey, pledged that his government would not accede to any form of media suppression. He broke that promise when SSS harassed Channel TV but the President has corrected him approach this time by bringing this lawsuit. However, if a military General like Mr. Obasanjo can demonstrate enormous forbearance (he never sued anyone in his 8 years of selfless service despite all kinds of name-calling by the Press) that Gen. Babangida did not consider when he murdered Mr. Dele Giwa, one would expect a civilian President like Mr. Yaradua to tender justice with mercy. It would help too if the FoI bill is passed, quickly, by the NASS so that credible journalists can access govt’s records, ask cogent questions, receive un-evasive answers from govt officials, so the Press can report more accurately without fear or favor and eschew rumors and innuendos being reported as facts. My bottom line is that it is within the rights of Mr. President to bring lawsuits against any errant journalist or newspaper just as much as it is within Mr. Ribadu’s constitutional right to bring suit against the Presidency, the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police just as much as Mr. Keyamo’s allegations against the Speaker of the House should be heard and dispensed of, transparently, by a competent jurisdiction. We shall continue to watch how all these issues play themselves out. May God continue to bless Nigeria in our attempt to perfect our democratic system of governance.

Dreams of objectivity, transparency, and other indicia of what is called "democracy," "liberal bourgeois democracy." Fine and dandy: the only problem, dude, is that you are in soupist Nigeria.

Or, do you perhaps delude yourself that with the trappings of "formal democracy", the the African Big Man has morphed into a democrat?

By the way, what do you mean by "objectivity," journalistic or scientific or whatever? May I respectfully remind you that this is a red hot contested concept in the so-called Western 'world'?

I denounce the appropriation of Western hegemonic epistemologico-ideological concepts by alienated African intellectuals and the application of the same in African problematics: objectivity is one of them, EXHIBIT NUMBER ONE.

What says you?

Hey Dude! I am totally lost in your jingoism. Perhaps if you make your words a bit simpler and straight forward, I may be able to respond. Thank you.

Dude, if you can't understand my verba, move on, keep on trucking. I am not here to "simplify" anything FOR YOU or for anybody else. Get it? "Simplify" and "straight forward" are purely subjective gestures, anchored in whatever rhetorical school one salutes.

Have you read Soyinka's claptrap? You get it: I think it is crap. And, that it is MY opinion. My FACTUM: I don't buy his books.

Same here, dude: you don't have to read or respond to my posts. UEBER ALLES, YOU don't, dude, tell me how to ex-press myself, or how to do whatever, for authority ACTIVATING the control mechanism, which you are surreptitiously, sub-rosa trying to push, is lacking, infinitely absent.

Now, what, in name of Zeus, do you mean by "[my] jingoism"? If you care to, you may explicate, simplify, or whatever that lexeme, which I find meaningless, as 'applied' to my post.

Hoping that you NOW UNDERSTAND MY POST,

Kindest Felicitations, Homey.

This has been overtaken by events. Leadership has apologised and accepted that its report was factually wrong. This calls to question the credibility of other reports by Leadership on the Presidency. According to Mr. Adeniyi "There are laws against libel, defamation of character and publication of falsehoods in our statute books". It is now probable that litigation will not proceed. This has denied the court the opportunity to determine whether 1) a reckless and even "malicious" report constitutes a libel or defamation of character and 2) a law against publication of falsehood actually exists. The latter has profound implications especially for public officers.