Authorities in north eastern Nigeria must urgently take steps to ensure the safety of media workers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday 24 October 2011, following the assassination of journalist, Zakariya Isa, in a shooting claimed by Islamist militants over the weekend.
Isa, a reporter and cameraman with the state-run Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), was shot dead in front of his residence in Maiduguri, capital of the north eastern state of Borno, on Saturday, 22 October 2011, around 7.30pm, Sale Mahdi, news manager of the local NTA bureau, told CPJ.
Moments before the murder, the gunman and another man had approached Isa to borrow a water kettle, supposedly to perform ritual Islamic ablutions before prayer, Mahdi said. Isa had been on vacation since Friday, he added.
Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group which seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the predominantly Muslim states of northern Nigeria, disclosed it was behind the killing, according to local journalists and Agence France-Presse (AFP). AFP cited an email statement in the local Hausa language from Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa, in which the militants said they "killed [Isa] not because he was a journalist but for his personal misconduct."
The statement added, "We killed him because he was spying on us for Nigerian security authorities," according to AFP. "We have ample evidence ... that he was giving vital information to security agencies on our mode of operation that led to the arrest of many of our members."
Nigerian authorities reject accusations
Local journalists and Nigerian authorities rejected the accusations, according to AFP. The Boko Haram statement also warned that the group would not hesitate to "kill anybody that steps on our toes" and follows a statement in Maiduguri in September in which the group threatened to attack media organisations over what it described as misrepresentation of its activities, press reports said.
"We condemn the murder of Zakariya Isa and deplore the targeting of journalists by Boko Haram," said CPJ Africa advocacy co-ordinator Mohamed Keita. "We call on Nigerian authorities to counter near-impunity in the murders of journalists by ensuring that Isa's killers are brought to justice."
Journalists threatened
According to Mahdi, threatening text messages from Boko Haram members and supporters prompted three journalists from the local NTA station to flee the region in recent weeks. NTA journalists also come under pressure from security forces over their coverage of Boko Haram, he said.
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden," has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and assassinations in the country, including the 26 August 2011 suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria.
