The Commissioner for the Enugu Capital Territory and Chairman of Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, Engr. Ikechukwu Ugwuegede and delivered to the FM station on Monday, the State Government demanded the radio station to submit its building plan failing which it would be shut down.
Although the letter is entitled “Approval for All Telecommunication Masts in Enugu Capital City”, the body of the letter, reads: “In line with state government policy on Urban Renewal to create an efficient city, Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority in its resolve to create and manage the city infrastructural development in line with the original master plan (sic).
“You are advised to submit your building approval plan to Enugu Capital Development Authority on or before 12th September, 2014.
“Failure to comply with the stated deadline will result in the closure of your programmes.”
Daily Trust learnt that Dream FM started broadcasting since two years ago but efforts to contact the management of the radio station failed, although an insider at the station said the company’s lawyers would study the letter to make some sense out of it.
The insider said: “The heading of the letter talks about approval for telecommunications masts, but the body talks about building plan. So, my thinking is that the management and lawyers would meet in earnest to study the letter and maybe request the ECTDA to clarify”.
However, in a swift reaction, the Enugu Rescue Group, ERG, has lampooned the move as “totally political and an extension of Governor Chime media clampdown and civilian dictatorship in Enugu State”.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Martin Okenwa and made available to reporters in Enugu, the group said that ‘’the disparity between the heading of the letter and its content showed that the Enugu State Government was just gambling on the best way to silence the Dream FM before it finally settled for the so-called building approval plan”.
The ERG further reasoned: “This radio station has been standing right in front of the Enugu State Government Secretariat for many years. So, why this emergency demand for building approval plan and why the threat to shut it down a few weeks to the PDP congresses and primaries?”
According to the group, “Today, Enugu people only read what the State government allows because government mops up every edition of newspapers and magazines which contents it considers unfriendly; it locked out the media during the recent kangaroo impeachment trial; hence this imminent clampdown on the Dream FM Enugu is a bid to also determine what the people listen to. It is indeed a total affront on free press and a grave threat and disservice to a free democratic society.”
It urged the media, the civil society and conscientious politicians in the State to stand up against what it called “full blown impunity and tyranny in Enugu State”.
Source: Daily Trust
