The Media Rights Agenda has condemned the increasing attacks, intimidation, and harassment of journalists across Nigeria, including the latest arrest and detention of Mr. Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa in Kebbi State.
The organisation said the trend poses a grave threat to media freedom, freedom of expression, and citizens’ right of access to information, calling on regional and international human rights mechanisms to take urgent measures to address the situation.
Hassan was arrested 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 in the state.
The journalist 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, according to MRA.
Security operatives stormed Hassan’s residence in Kangiwa town late on Sunday night, September 7, 2025, arresting him in front of his family, according to eyewitnesses.
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.
Mr. John Gbadamosi, MRA’s Programme Officer, said the incident is part of a disturbing pattern of attacks against journalists in Nigeria who are carrying out their professional duties.
“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,” Gbadamosi said in a statement issued in Lagos.
He called on the Kebbi State Government to immediately and unconditionally release Hassan and advised Governor Idris to stop persecuting journalists and instead focus on addressing the decay in public infrastructure.
Gbadamosi also identified recent cases of attacks against journalists in Nigeria, including the assault of Olatunji Adebayo, a Punch newspaper correspondent, in June 2025 by security operatives while covering a protest in Ibadan, Oyo State.
In July 2025, Blessing Okonkwo, a freelance broadcast journalist in Anambra State, was harassed and assaulted by police officers who accused her of “unauthorised reporting” while filming a demolition exercise.
Ibrahim Garba, a Daily Trust photojournalist in Kano, was detained for hours in August 2025 and physically assaulted by political party loyalists while covering a campaign rally.
Ms. Ladi Bala, Transport Correspondent of the Nigerian Television Authority and former President of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, was harassed and verbally assaulted by Mr. Kayode Opeifa, Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, on August 27, 2025, while covering a train derailment along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor.
Opeifa reportedly disrupted Bala’s live reporting and ordered security operatives to remove her from the scene while threatening to report her to security agencies, the Presidency, and NTA management to ensure her dismissal.
Sodeeq Atanda, a senior reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, was arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command on September 9, 2025, in Ado-Ekiti after honouring a police invitation over his reporting exposing alleged sexual harassment by Abayomi Fasina, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti.
The Ekiti State Police Command also summoned Fisayo Soyombo, founder of FIJ, directing him to appear before police in Ado-Ekiti on September 15, 2025, for alleged conspiracy, criminal defamation, cyberbullying, and blackmail.
MRA called on the Federal Government to order immediate, independent and transparent investigations into all reported attacks on journalists and prosecute the perpetrators.
The organisation noted that there is a subsisting order by a Federal High Court in Abuja made on February 16, 2024, directing the Federal Government to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of all attacks against journalists.
It urged the government to end the pervasive culture of impunity for crimes against journalists by complying with court orders and ensuring that perpetrators of violence against journalists are brought to justice.
MRA also called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, particularly its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, as well as the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, to engage the Nigerian Government on the growing attacks on journalists.
“Nigeria has committed itself to upholding human rights standards at both regional and global levels. It must now be held to account for its failure to live up to these commitments and protect journalists and the media. The international community cannot afford to remain silent in the face of these attacks,” Gbadamosi said.