A total of eight casualties have been confirmed following attacks on media houses in Nigeria on Thursday, April 26. Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden car drove into the offices of ThisDay newspaper in Abuja, while a bomb was thrown at a building housing the offices of The Sun, ThisDay and The Moment in Kaduna, according to the Associated Press and other reports.

The Sun’s chief editor and managing editor, Tony Onyima, told IPI that five employees of ThisDay were killed in the attack in Abuja. The total number of people injured has yet to be confirmed. Eniola Bello, managing director of ThisDay, told IPI that security guards and administrative staff were killed in the explosion. No journalists were killed, as most of them had not yet arrived in the office at the time of the explosion. Bello confirmed to IPI that there were five casualties in Abuja and three in Kaduna. He added that they believed the attacks were intended to “stop us from doing our job”.

In a statement released shortly after the attack, the IPI Nigerian National Committee expressed its shock and condemnation for the attacks on ThisDay and The Sun. “The attacks were not only murderous, they were totally unprovoked. We condemn this onslaught against the free press; we reject this attempt to muzzle the Nigerian media. The IPI Nigerian chapter urges the media not to be intimidated by this dastardly act,” the statement said.

In an interview with Nigerian news website, Premium Times, Abul Qaqa, spokesman for Boko Haram allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack on ThisDay’s building, in Abuja. Qaqa claimed that the attacks were a message to the media that the group will no longer accept misrepresentation. “We have repeatedly cautioned reporters and media houses to be professional and objective in their reports. This is a war between us and the Government of Nigeria; unfortunately the media have not been objective and fair in their report of the ongoing war, they chose to take side,” Qaqa said to Premium Times.

In the interview, Qaqa accused the press of attributing statements to Boko Haram that were never made in interviews. Qaqa said to Premium Times that they targeted ThisDay for its “sins”, for producing false stories to foster a negative view of Boko Haram. Furthermore, Qaqa accused the newspaper of insulting the Prophet Mohammed in 2002.

Chillingly, Qaqa purportedly warned of further attacks in the interview with Premium Times, “We have just started this new campaign against the media and we will not stop here, we will hit the media hard since they have refused to listen to our plea for them to be fair in their reportage. In the coming days we will give details and instances where the media have not been fair to us and why we are going to attack them as well.”

“IPI is saddened at the horrific attack against our colleagues in Nigeria and express our utmost admiration for their courage to continue working in such dangerous conditions,” said IPI Acting Deputy Director, Anthony Mills. “We are extremely disturbed at reports that Boko Haram is targeting the media as a mean to achieve its political objectives. This is not acceptable, and we urge the Nigerian authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice swiftly.”

The full statement from the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute:

IPI CONDEMNS BOMBING OF MEDIA HOUSES IN NIGERIA

April 26, 2012 – The Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI) received with shock and disbelief, the news of the bombing of ThisDay newspapers office in Abuja and ThisDay and The Sun offices in Kaduna.

The attacks were not only murderous, they were totally unprovoked. We condemn this onslaught against the free press; we reject this attempt to muzzle the Nigerian media.

The IPI Nigerian chapter urges the media not to be intimidated by this dastardly act.

We send our condolences to ThisDay and The Sun Newspapers and to the families of the victims of the bombings.

We urge our media houses to be more alert and take stringent measures to protect the lives of journalists and other workers as well as to secure their properties.

Kabiru Yusuf
Chairman,
IPI Nigerian National Committee

Raheem Adedoyin
Secretary,
IPI Nigerian National Committee