‘Like going to the war front’: Nigerian journalists offer tips for covering 2023 elections
In the early hours of February 1, unknown gunmen set fire to an office of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission and a police station in the country’s southeastern Anambra state. Days earlier, gunmen had attacked and killed soldiers and policemen at checkpoints along a road that connects nearby Enugu and Ebonyi states. The incidents underscored…
Law enforcement and unidentified assailants attack Nigerian journalists and media offices during protests
Abuja, October 26, 2020 – Nigerian authorities should conduct a swift and transparent investigation into recent attacks on journalists and media outlets and ensure that the press can cover ongoing protests safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since October 5, police and demonstrators have attacked at least 12 journalists covering protests against police…
Journalists attacked while covering alleged vote fraud in Nigeria’s Edo state
Abuja, September 23, 2020 –Nigerian authorities should investigate the recent attacks on journalists Samson Adenekan and Offem Nathaniel Ubanga, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 19, a group of at least 50 unidentified men attacked Adenekan, a journalist with the privately owned Premium Times online newspaper,…
How Nigeria’s police used telecom surveillance to lure and arrest journalists
As reporters for Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper, Samuel Ogundipe and Azeezat Adedigba told CPJ they spoke often over the phone. They had no idea that their regular conversations about work and their personal lives were creating a record of their friendship.
Nigerian journalists attacked and threatened while covering Bayelsa and Kogi state elections
Abuja, November 19, 2019 — Nigerian authorities should investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the harassment of journalists working to cover the November 16 gubernatorial and federal assembly elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today
‘You cannot muzzle the media’: Nigerian journalists on press freedom under Buhari
When Nigeria’s incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari won re-election this year, he campaigned (as he did in 2015) on an image of good governance and anti-corruption. Billboards in the capital, Abuja, bore the smiling faces of the president–who first led Nigeria as military ruler from 1983-1985–and his vice-president Yemi Osinbajo, and called for voters to let…
Journalists in Nigeria detained, harassed, and assaulted while covering state elections
Abuja, Nigeria, March 13, 2019 — Nigerian authorities should investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the detention, harassment, and assault of journalists nationwide during the March 9 gubernatorial and state assembly elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Nigerian journalist jailed for refusing to reveal source
New York, August 16, 2018–Nigerian police should immediately release journalist Samuel Ogundipe, drop all charges against him, and cease efforts to pressure him to reveal any journalistic sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Nigerian police raid investigative news website’s office
Lagos, Nigeria, January 19, 2017–Nigerian authorities should drop all charges against Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of the news website Premium Times, and Evelyn Okakwu, who covers the judiciary for the website, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Plainclothes police officers raided the website’s office in the capital Abuja and arrested the two today, holding them…
