Newspaper vendors in Anambra State have protested the alleged ban on newsstands across the State by the State government.
The vendors said the ban was an infringement on citizens’ rights of freedom of the press.
They said government agents have been harassing them on a daily basis, asking them to rent offices/shops where they would sell their newspapers.
A female vendor at Aroma, Esther Godwin, who spoke to journalists, said some government agents came to her newsstand and warned her to stop selling newspapers there from next week, adding that when she asked them the reason for the quit notice, they told her it was Governor Soludo’s decision.
She said, “Even in London and America, vendors still sell newspapers on the newsstands, despite their development. Why is Soludo telling us to rent offices where we will be selling newspapers?
“Where is the money to do that at a time like this. We have planned to visit the Commissioner for Information to complain; if nothing positive comes out from our meeting with the Commissioner, we shall go to the State House of Assembly and call for his (Soludo’s) impeachment.”
Meanwhile, a lecturer of Mass communication, who spoke in confidence to our correspondent, described the alleged ban on newsstands in the State as executive madness.
Credit: dailypost.ng
