Attacks against journalists growing under Tinubu — Report

•Tinubu

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has decried what it described as an alarming escalation of attacks on media freedom and civic expression, partic­ularly through the misuse of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act by law en­forcement agencies to silence or punish journalists and crit­ics under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

According to its report, titled, ‘The Onslaught Intensi­fies: A Mid-Term Assessment Report on Media Freedom under the Tinubu Adminis­tration,’ between May 29, 2023, and May 29, 2025, MRA docu­mented 141 incidents of attacks on journalists, media workers, and ordinary citizens for the peaceful expression of their views on a variety of issues, in­cluding governance, economic hardship, the security situation in the country, among others, reports Daily Independent.

MRA said of these inci­dents, 61 cases (43.26 percent) were perpetrated by operatives of the Nigeria Police, while the Department of State Services (DSS) was responsible for sev­en cases (4.96 percent) with the two agencies collectively accounting for nearly half of all documented violations of media rights and freedom of expression across the country over the last two years.

It argued that the Tinubu administration bears legal responsibility for all of these incidents, in accordance with Principle 20(5) of the Declara­tion of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, which holds that states are “liable for the conduct of law enforce­ment, security, intelligence, military and other personnel which threatens, undermines or violates the safety of jour­nalists and other media prac­titioners.”

In a preface to the report, MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said: “We are see­ing threats to media freedom in Nigeria through the continued implementation of repressive laws, such as the Cybercrime Act which is frequently used to target, silence or punish jour­nalists; the enforcement of po­litically motivated regulatory sanctions; arrests and deten­tion or other forms of attacks on journalists; surveillance or intimidation of media prac­titioners; and censorship of government-controlled broad­casters, among other threats and attacks.”

Describing the report as a “timely intervention in a political climate where dem­ocratic gains continue to face increasing threats from cen­sorship, regulatory overreach, violence against journalists, and the misuse of digital sur­veillance technologies,” Mr. Ojo explained that its objective “is not merely to criticise but to document, analyse, and illu­minate the extent to which the current administration has ei­ther advanced or undermined the freedom of expression land­scape in Nigeria.”

MRA said among the most disturbing findings in the re­port was the continued abuse of the Cybercrimes (Prohibi­tion, Prevention, etc.) of 2015, as amended, particularly its controversial Section 24, which law enforcement agencies have exploited to arrest, detain, and prosecute journalists and so­cial media users over critical or dissenting expressions online.

The organisation recorded many cases of such misuse, in­cluding the arrests of Mr. Em­manuel Uti, a journalist with the Foundation for Investiga­tive Journalism (FIJ); Mr. Des­tiny Ekhorutomuen, a blogger in Edo State; four editors and reporters from Informant247 in Kwara State; Mr. Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and human rights ad­vocate; and several others who faced excessive bail conditions or prolonged detention.

According to MRA, the frequent misuse of the Cy­bercrime Act had become so outrageous that it resulted in an unprecedented move by the Heads of the Missions of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, and Finland in Nigeria, who issued a stern reprimand in a joint statement issued in June 2025 criticising the Nigerian government’s abuse of the Act and calling for urgent reform in the law and its implementation.

The report noted that the Tinubu administration has treated internationally and constitutionally protected rights such as peaceful pro­tests and dissent as crimes, go­ing so far as to charge peaceful protesters, including minors, with treason, an offence which carries the death penalty, in complete disregard of the fact that dissent and criticisms of government are not just per­missible features of democracy but are, in fact, regarded as es­sential for its survival, vitality, and legitimacy.

It stated that many journal­ists covering such peaceful pro­tests have been beaten or bru­talised, arrested and detained for varying durations, and have had their equipment seized or damaged, with no single perpe­trator of any of these attacks being held accountable.

In its statement announc­ing the launch of the report, MRA’s Communications Officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, said: “It is deeply ironic and troubling that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, himself a for­mer pro-democracy activist and owner of multiple media outlets across print, radio and television, now presides over an administration increasing­ly defined by the repression of the very freedoms he once championed.”

MRA called on all stake­holders, including the media community, civil society, the judiciary, the National As­sembly, and the international community, to put relentless pressure on the government to undertake meaningful reforms that uphold media freedom and the broader right to freedom of expression and democratic val­ues in Nigeria.