Nigeria / Africa

  
Precious Eze Chukwunonso

Nigeria police charge 4 journalists with cybercrimes for corruption reporting

Abuja, October 3, 2024—Despite recent reforms to Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, journalists continue to be targeted for publishing news in the public interest, with four reporters being charged under the law last month. Cybercrime laws and other regulations governing online content have been widely used to jail journalists around the world. In Nigeria, at least 29…

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Haruna Mohammed Salisu and Yawale Adamu

WikkiTimes publisher, reporter face criminal charges over reporting on alleged corruption

Abuja, September 16, 2024—Authorities in Nigeria should discontinue criminal proceedings against journalists Haruna Mohammed Salisu and Yawale Adamu, of the privately owned WikkiTimes news site, and reform laws that criminalize the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. “Nigerian journalists must be allowed to investigate allegations of corruption without fear of imprisonment,” said CPJ…

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CPJ, partners call for release of slain Nigerian journalist’s body

The Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, and the Media Foundation for West Africa released a joint statement on Tuesday, September 3, calling on Nigerian authorities to ensure the body of slain journalist Onifade Emmanuel Pelumi is released to his family and that those responsible for his death are identified and held to account. …

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Nigerian security forces lob teargas canisters to disperse an anti-government demonstration to protest against bad governance and economic hardship in Abuja, Nigeria, on August 2, 2024.

In Nigeria, at least 56 journalists attacked and harassed as protests roil region

“He hit me with a gun butt,” Premium Times newspaper reporter Yakubu Mohammed told the Committee to Protect Journalists, recalling how he was struck by a police officer while reporting on cost-of-living protests in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja on August 1. Two other officers beat him, seized his phone, and threw him in a police…

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Protestors running from clouds of tear gas fired by Nigerian security forces during the End Bad Governance protests in the capital Abuja on August 2.

Nigerian security forces attack, arrest journalists covering protests

Abuja, August 6, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to investigate reports that dozens of journalists were assaulted, harassed, and detained while covering cost-of-living protests, which began on August 1. CPJ is investigating multiple incidents including one in the capital Abuja on August 3, where masked security forces fired bullets and teargas…

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Chained and blindfolded: Nigerian journalist Segun Olatunji recounts his detention

The arrest and detention of Segun Olatunji, the then-editor of the privately owned First News site, by Nigeria’s military in March triggered an outcry from local and international civil society, highlighting an uptick in the unlawful detention of journalists in the West African nation.  Olatunji was taken from his Alagbado home in southwestern Lagos state by more than a dozen armed men who…

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Nigerian court acquits publisher Agba Jalingo of cybercrime charges

Abuja, July 9, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s court decision in Nigeria acquitting Agba Jalingo, publisher of the privately owned CrossRiverWatch, of cybercrime charges. “While we welcome the acquittal of publisher Agba Jalingo of cybercrime charges, Nigerian authorities urgently need to stop the criminalization of journalists for their work,” said Angela Quintal, head…

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Gabriel Idibia told CPJ he recieved medical care at a local hospital after he was punched by a police officer on his left eye on June 11 in Kaduna, the capital city of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State. (Photo: Gabriel Idibia)

Nigeria police arrest, detain, assault journalist Gabriel Idibia while in custody

On June 11, police officers in Kaduna, the capital city of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, arrested Gabriel Idibia, a correspondent and freelancer with the privately owned Daily Times and Daybreak Nigeria news sites, while he was taking photos of the officers guiding a large group of cattle across a road, according media reports, Idibia and Daybreak Nigeria publisher Austin Maho, who both spoke to CPJ.  Idibia…

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Police in Nigeria on May 27 arrested journalist Precious Eze Chukwunonso, the publisher of privately owned online publication News Platform, and detained him for 18 days over a May 8 article about a local business. (Photo: Courtesy of Precious Eze Chukwunonso)

Nigerian authorities detain journalist Precious Eze Chukwunonso for 18 days

Lusaka, Zambia, June 21, 2024—Nigerian authorities should drop all criminal charges against Precious Eze Chukwunonso, publisher of the privately owned outlet News Platform, who was detained for nearly three weeks, following a complaint about his reporting, and allow journalists to work without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On May 27,…

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On May 20, officers with the Nigeria Police Force-National Cybercrime Center summoned Nurudeen Akewushola, a reporter with the nonprofit ICIR news agency, for questioning in connection with a police investigation “into a case of cyberstalking and defamation of character." (Photo courtesy of Nurudeen Akewushola)

In Nigeria, 2 ICIR journalists summoned, questioned over corruption report

Abuja, May 31, 2024—Nigerian police authorities should immediately drop their criminal investigation into journalist Nurudeen Akewushola and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), and allow them to work free of harassment and fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.  On May 20, officers with the Nigeria Police Force-National Cybercrime Center (NPF-NCCC)…

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