Nigerian police detain, charge two journalists for WhatsApp messages
On October 13, 2022, police officers at Ilorin, the capital of the southern Kwara State, detained Abdulrasheed Akogun with his brother Dare Akogun on criminal charges for comments they posted in a popular WhatsApp group titled “Kwara Commission,” according to a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ and Ibrahim Sheriff Gold, a Fresh…
Nigerian authorities criminally charge 2 journalists over political reporting
Abuja, July 8, 2022 – Nigerian authorities should immediately drop all charges against publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu and reporter Idris Kamal and allow journalists to work free from legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On June 27, police in the city of Bauchi, the capital of northern Bauchi state, arrested and detained…
Nigerian journalist Luka Binniyat detained over complaint by Kaduna state official
Abuja, Nigeria, November 15, 2021 – Nigerian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Luka Binniyat and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 4, police officers in Barnawa, a town in the northern state of Kaduna, arrested Binniyat, a freelance journalist who contributes to the U.S.-based news…
Nigerian journalist Ime Sunday Silas held since August on cybercrime charge
Abuja, September 16, 2020 – Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalist Ime Sunday Silas, drop the charges against him, and reform the country’s cybercrime act to ensure it is not used against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 17, police in Uyo city, the capital of Nigeria’s southern Akwa-Ibom state,…
Nigerian journalist held under cybercrime act for COVID-19 coverage
Abuja, June 10, 2020 – Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalist Saint Mienpamo Onitsha, drop all charges against him, and reform the country’s cybercrime act to ensure it is not used to prosecute the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 4, officers with Nigeria’s Department of State Services detained Onitsha, founder…
Nigerian journalist Fejiro Oliver charged with cybercrime for corruption report
Fejiro Oliver, the publisher of the privately owned Secret Reporters news site, is scheduled to appear in court in Nigeria’s southwestern Lagos city on May 28, 2020, after years of adjourned legal proceedings, he told CPJ. Department of State Services (DSS) agents separately questioned him three times about his reporting in 2019, he said. Oliver’s…
Jailed Nigerian journalist Agba Jalingo to face cybercrime charge in court
New York, February 12, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Nigerian authorities to drop all charges against Agba Jalingo, the publisher of the privately owned news website CrossRiverWatch, and set him free. Jalingo is set to appear at a federal high court in Calabar city tomorrow on amended charges, including cybercrime…
Nigeria charges Weekly Source editor Jones Abiri under cybercrimes, terrorism acts
Berlin, May 22, 2019 –A federal court today charged Jones Abiri, the publisher and editor-in -chief of the Weekly Source, under Nigeria’s cybercrimes act, anti-sabotage act, and terrorism prevention act for crimes allegedly carried out in 2016, and ordered the journalist to be detained, according to his lawyer, Samuel Ogala, and charge documents seen by…
Journalist arrested, charged under cybercrime law in Nigeria
New York, March 7, 2019 — Nigerian authorities should immediately drop charges against journalist Obinna Don Norman, release him from prison, and reform the 2015 cybercrime act to ensure it is not used to prosecute journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
