Rights Group Condemns Growing Attacks On Journalists

An advocacy group, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), has condemned the alarming rise in attacks and harassment of journalists in Nigeria.

The group decried the recent arrest and detention of Mr Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa in Kebbi State on the orders of Governor Nasir Idris, following the circulation of a video that exposed the deplorable state of facilities at the Kangiwa General Hospital.

It warned that, if unchecked, the trend poses a grave threat to media freedom, freedom of expression and the citizens’ right to access information.

MRA called on regional and international human rights bodies to take urgent measures to redress the situation by closely monitoring Nigeria’s compliance with its human rights obligations and holding the government accountable for breaches of those obligations.

“Hassan had posted a video online showing an elderly patient lying helplessly on a bare metal bed frame without a mattress, sparking outrage across the country and renewed calls for accountability in the health sector. Rather than addressing the clear neglect and decay in the hospital system revealed in the footage, Governor Idris chose to punish the journalist by criminalising his work and violating his rights as a journalist.

“According to eyewitnesses, security operatives stormed Hassan’s residence in Kangiwa town late in the night of Sunday, September 7, 2025, arresting him in front of his family. His phones and work equipment were seized during the raid, raising further concerns about the violation of his privacy and professional rights.

“Hassan was initially held at a local police station before being transferred to Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, reportedly on the governor’s orders. Since then, police authorities have refused to disclose the charges against him or grant access to his lawyers, effectively keeping him cut off from his family, friends and legal representation,” MRA said in a statement.

Noting that the incident is not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern of attacks against journalists in Nigeria who are carrying out their professional duties, Mr John Gbadamosi, MRA’s programme officer, said in the statement that “these repeated incidents highlight the deteriorating environment for media freedom in Nigeria. The culture of impunity, enabled by government, has emboldened perpetrators, both state and non-state actors, who now attack journalists without fear of consequences.”

He called on the state government to release Hassan and advised the governor to desist from persecuting journalists and instead focus on addressing the decay in public infrastructure.

Gbadamosi identified other recent cases of attacks against journalists in Nigeria to include, the beating of Olatunji Adebayo, a correspondent with The Punch newspaper, in June 2025 and seizing of his equipment by security operatives while he was covering a protest in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The group also noted with dismay the recent harassment of Blessing Okonkwo, a freelance broadcast journalist in Anambra State, who was also assaulted by police officers who accused her of “unauthorized reporting” while she was filming a demolition exercise.

The MRA also mentioned the detention of Ibrahim Garba, a Daily Trust photojournalist in Kano, who was detained for hours in August 2025 and physically assaulted by political party loyalists while he was covering a campaign rally.

The rights group also recalled the assault on Ms Ladi Bala, the Transport Correspondent of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) by Mr Kayode Opeifa, managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), on August 27, 2025, while she was covering the derailment of a train along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor.

MRA also recalled the detention of Sodeeq Atanda, a senior reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), who was arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command on September 9, 2025, in Ado-Ekiti, after he honoured an invitation by the Police over his report exposing alleged sexual harassment reportedly perpetrated by a Vice Chancellor of a Federal University, among other instances.