By: Usman Bashir Abubakar

Nigeria, often lauded as a beacon of democracy in West Africa, presents a paradox when it comes to press freedom. Despite constitutional guarantees, journalists in the country face a relentless onslaught of physical attacks, legal harassment, and digital surveillance, creating a climate of fear that stifles independent reporting and undermines democratic accountability. Recent years have seen a disturbing escalation in these incidents, revealing clear patterns of intimidation orchestrated by both state and non-state actors, designed to silence critical voices and control narratives.

The scale of these attacks is alarming. In 2024 alone, at least 56 journalists were assaulted or harassed while covering the #EndBadGovernance protests across Nigeria. The International Press Centre (IPC) documented a total of 65 cases of attacks on journalists that year, highlighting the pervasive nature of the threats. By 2025, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) recorded 86 verified incidents against journalists and citizens, indicating a continued upward trend in press freedom violations. While Nigeria saw a slight improvement in its ranking on the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, moving up to 112th out of 180 countries, it remains firmly in the ‘difficult’ category, underscoring the enduring hostility of the environment for media professionals.

A prominent pattern emerging from these incidents is the impunity enjoyed by state actors, particularly security agencies. Between December 2024 and November 2025, the MRA reported that 48 incidents of press freedom violations were carried out by the very security agencies meant to protect citizens. During the August 2024 protests, journalists wearing clearly marked “Press” vests were deliberately targeted. Yakubu Mohammed, a reporter for Premium Times, recounted being hit with a gun butt, beaten, and thrown into a police van by officers in Abuja, despite identifying himself as a journalist. This physical violence is often accompanied by the seizure or destruction of equipment, effectively preventing journalists from documenting events and reporting the truth.

Beyond physical violence, legal intimidation has become a favored weapon for silencing investigative journalists. The Cybercrimes Act, originally enacted to combat online fraud, has been weaponized to target the press. Despite amendments in February 2024 intended to protect free speech, authorities continue to exploit broadly worded provisions regarding “defamatory” or “harmful” content to harass and detain journalists. Section 24 of the Act, which deals with cyberstalking, remains a potent tool for intimidation, carrying heavy fines and the threat of imprisonment. In May 2024, Daniel Ojukwu, an investigative journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was secretly arrested and detained for nine days without charge over a report exposing corruption. By November 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that at least three journalists were being detained on cybercrime allegations, demonstrating the persistent misuse of the law.

The threat landscape is further complicated by the increasing use of digital surveillance. State security agents are increasingly employing telecom surveillance and interception technology to track, monitor, and hunt down investigative journalists and their sources. Journalists in states like Kaduna and Plateau have recounted harrowing experiences of having their calls tapped and their movements tracked, leading to arrests and intimidation. This covert surveillance not only violates the privacy of journalists but also compromises the safety of whistleblowers, creating a chilling effect that deters sources from coming forward and severely hampers investigative reporting.

The convergence of physical violence, legal harassment, and digital surveillance paints a grim picture of press freedom in Nigeria. The targeting of journalists like Daniel Ojukwu and Yakubu Mohammed are not isolated incidents but part of a systemic effort to suppress accountability journalism. When state actors act with impunity and legal frameworks are manipulated to serve political interests, the fundamental right to information is compromised. For Nigeria to truly consolidate its democracy, it must dismantle these patterns of intimidation, hold perpetrators accountable, and create an environment where journalists can operate without fear of reprisal.