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*Today (05-03-18) is WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY – My image of former leader and dictator of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha has through the years come to symbolize Press Censorship. Nigerian journalism was in a dark place during his leadership. I could not publish it then in any Nigerian press for fear of closure by the Nigerian government or any press owned by the Nigerian government. The cartoon was first published in the London based New African magazine, a Pan African monthly publication. Many Nigerian journalists were locked up for publishing the truth and some fled into exile.
Ramon Esono Ebale, a cartoonist was detained by the Equatorial Guinea authorities in September 2017. His cartoons usually criticizes the president and government officials. There were fears that he may be charged with criminal defamation but the state used other charges instead, as basis for detaining him.
Having lived and worked for several years outside of his country Equatorial Guinea, Ramon returned to the country to renew his passport and was arrested by security agencies. There was outrage, protests and petition for his release around the world through the electronic and print media and through Cartoonists Rights Network International CRNI. Eventually, the charges against him were dropped in February 2018.
World Press Freedom Day … is in honour of bold journalists and cartoonists and photographers in these perilous times and in memory of journalists and cartoonists as well as photographers who have lost their lives around the world in search of and for printing and publishing the truth. How free is the press today? That’s a matter for another day.
#DrawingBlood
Organisers of The Nigerian Satire Festival, The Arts & Civics Table (TACT) Organisation, and the Cartoonists Association of Nigeria (CARTAN) have kicked off a cartoon campaign themed “Drawing Blood”, to mark World Press Freedom day, 2018. The campaign will deploy red-blood themed cartoons as a way of protest against the violence and bloodshed and destruction in different parts of Nigeria. The #DrawingBlood campaign is therefore a call, to those saddled with the responsibility of maintaining peace and protecting lives, that the dire security situation needs to be urgently addressed. Over the next six months, and leading up to The Nigerian Satire Festival in November 2018, the #DrawingBlood campaign will promote artists and cartoonists utilizing the colour RED as the main colour theme in their work. The campaign will also feature satirical art works in other formats. In addition to publishing these #DrawingBlood cartoons in newspapers and online, cartoon and art exhibitions will be held at various dates over the campaign period. Dates for the exhibitions will be announced via our social medial pages and on www.TACTNigeria.org.
TAYO Fatunla is an award-winning Nigerian Comic Artist, Editorial Cartoonist, Writer, and Illustrator. He is a graduate of the prestigious The Kubert School, in New Jersey, US. He is the creator of the Black History cartoons, OUR ROOTS, which are used for educational purposes in books, in schools and colleges, in newsletters, Journals, newspapers, online publications and also used for presentations. His cartoons have featured in The Guardian UK newspaper – www.tayofatunla.com
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