By The Punch Newspaper was conspicuously missing among the National dailies that got front page Advertorial from the presidency on Wednesday.
The Infotainment contained the New year message of President Mohammadu Buhari to his people ( Nigerians). While the content splashed on the cover page of most newspapers, The punch newspaper, which describes itself as the most widely read newspaper in Nigeria, had images of New year celebrations across the world and other stories.
In an article on December 11, the punch announced that it would refer to Buhari’s government as a regime over it’s “disregard for the rule of law”, citing among other cases is the detention of Omoyele Sowore, convener of Revolution movement, despite two courts granting him bail.
Omoyele Sowore, the founder of the website Sahara Reporters, had been held for most of the past five months by Nigeria’s equivalent of the Secret Service, the Department for State Services. Two earlier court orders to release Mr. Sowore on bail had been ignored by the authorities. He was later released on Christmas Eve by Nigeria’s attorney general Abubakar Malami in a statement released in Abuja.
Femi Adeshina and Garba Shehu, spokesmen of the president had issued statements on the same day in response to the article. While Femi Adeshina said calling Buhari major-general is a testament of press freedom , Shehu accused the newspaper of cuddling dictators in the past.
