AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY JOUNAL OF ARTS

The press constitutes a very important arm of every nation’s life because its capacity to influence and shape public opinion is recognised all over the world. The press serves as a vital link between the government and the governed and constitutes the watchdog of the society. The freedom to receive and impart information and ideas through any medium is a fundamental right. This right is articulated in Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Other international and regional bodies have issued similar declarations affirming the right of individuals to have access to information. However, despite the globally recognised fundamental latitude granted the press, the disposition towards the press by past military governments in Nigeria has been historically adversarial. Indeed, from 1966, the Nigerian press perpetually came under unimaginable bout of the military antagonism worth documenting. The scenario undermined the process of accountability on the part of the military rulers and the right of the citizens to be adequately informed and ventilate their opinion. The paper therefore examines the press under the successive military regimes in Nigeria between 1966 when the military made its first incursion into the nation’s political space to 1999, when the current democratic dispensation was established. It acknowledges the fact that without the efforts of the press, the return to democratic rule would have been a mirage. It adopts a historical narrative methodology and relies on secondary sources

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