''The Guardian'' is a Nigerian independent daily newspaper, established in 1983, published by Guardian Newspapers Limited in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

History

''The Guardian'' was established in 1983 by

Alex Ibru Alex Ibru (1 March 1945 – 20 November 2011) was a Nigerian businessman, founder and publisher of ''The Guardian'' (Nigeria) newspaper, who was minister of internal affairs from 1993 to 1995 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha. Ba ...

, an entrepreneur, and Stanley Macebuh, a top journalist with the '' Daily Times'' newspapers, with its model copied from the original ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' in the UK. ''The Guardian'' was a pioneer in introducing high-quality journalism to Nigeria with thoughtful editorial content. The paper was first published on 22 February 1983 as a weekly, appearing on Sundays. It started daily publication on 4 July 1983. During the administration of General

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...

, reporters Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor were both sent to jail in 1984 under Decree No. 4 of 1984, which suppressed journalistic freedom. On 26 August 1989 ''The Guardian'' published a long letter by Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti, a human-rights activist, entitled "Open Letter to President Babangida", in which he criticized what he saw as increasing government suppression of free expression of ideas. The owner,

, escaped an assassination attempt during the military regime of General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful ...

. On 2 February 1996 his car was fired upon and Ibru was hit. He was rushed to the hospital with one of his eyes dangling from its socket. Following Abacha's sudden death in June 1998, legal proceedings began against his son

Mohammed Abacha Mohammed Abacha is the eldest surviving son of Nigeria's former ''military ruler'', the late general Sani Abacha, and his wife Maryam Abacha. Money laundering During his father's military rule, Mohammed Abacha was involved in looting the governm ...

and his Chief Security Officer Major

Hamza al-Mustapha Hamza Al-Mustapha (born 27 July 1960) is a former Nigerian Army major and intelligence officer who served as Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, who was Nigeria's military head of state from 1993 until his sudden death on June 8, 19 ...

. Eventually, in December 2010 a Lagos High Court acquitted those accused of the attempt.

Content

''The Guardian'' is owned by a member of an

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

and has a national outlook in terms of reach and content. It claims to be independent of any ethnic group, religious community,

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

or other interest group. However, it has been accused of hate-mongering against the

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A s ...

. ''The Guardian'' is the main competitor to ''

The Punch ''The Punch'' is a Nigerian daily newspaper founded On August 8, 1970. Punch Nigeria Limited was registered under the Companies Act of 1968 to engage in the business of publishing newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. It was designed to i ...

'' for advertising, although not for circulation. Unlike ''The Punch'', it focuses on business content rather than on what the editor of ''The Punch'' refers to as "appeal to the working classes". ''The Guardian'' is read by the most educated section of the elite, while ''The Punch'' can be understood by anyone with basic literacy. Other Nigerian papers fall between these extremes. However, ''The Guardian'' has often insisted that it caters to the interests of the different segments of the society, ranging from the most educated to the barely literate. ''The Guardian'' was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 1988 as "Nigeria's most respected newspaper".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guardian Publications established in 1983 Newspapers published in Lagos English-language newspapers published in Africa 1983 establishments in Nigeria Companies based in Lagos Daily newspapers published in Nigeria