By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
The President of Coalition of Civil Rights Congress, Mr Kabir Nasir has urged the President of U.S. Mr Donald Trump to allow the Voice of America (VOA) to continue operation.
Nasir made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at a peaceful really in Abuja on Friday.
According to him, allowing the over 83-year-old station to continue operation will save jobs and help listeners to access information.
NAN reports that protesters were seen holding placards with inscriptions such as ” The world is quiet, VOA is off air,” and “83 years of VOA…Trump must not kill it”,
Other inscriptions were, “millions of listeners miss VOA “:, “We need constant information, restore VOA”, and many others.
“We are here to protest the injustice that took place in America. We are here to protest the suspension of VOA by President Donald Trump.
“We see this as gross injustice. This organisation has been in existence for more than 83 years. And for you to just come out in a day and suspend it for no reason, we feel is not good.
“And we are calling on President Trump to reverse his decision. We are drawing the attention of all our counterparts across the whole world to resist this move
“I had sleepless nights when I heard about this. Journalists in the whole world are respected. Without the journalists, no government will exist. VOA is older than Trump.
“In fact, in the recent election that brought Trump to power, he used the media. He used the journalists to win his election.
“So, I see no reason why he will closed VON affecting the journalists, especially those with the VOA. We call on him to reverse this decision,” Nasir urged Trump.
According to Nasir, VON is established by the law, and taking a decision without following due process like consulting the U.S. Congress is wrong.
He explained that America is a great country that champion the course of democracy in the world.
“So what will happen if a similar decision is taken by an African or any other country, how will America intervene and criticize such country?”
He further explained that with the closure of VOA, millions of listeners of the station would certainly not be able to access reliable and authentic information, especially our people in the rural areas.
“Most so, that we are in the era of fake news, misinformation and disinformation, putting VOA off air will have more negative consequences on dissemination of information from the U.S.
“The Journalists there have done so much. They should not be intimidated. We can’t allow people to be intimidating them. And besides that, they are workers and bread winners of their families.
“Do you know how many millions are now losing their jobs? We don’t expect all these from America,” Nasir said.
NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA