By Izuchukwu Mayor, Lagos
Six Nigerian and international media freedom organisations have written a joint letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging him to hold accountable those responsible for abuses against the media, which occurred during and before his tenure.
The groups also urged the President to take further action to reform Nigerian laws to ensure journalism is not criminalised.
The letter was signed by Africa Director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Angela Quintal; Deputy Director, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Busola Ajibola; and President, The Africa Editors Forum (TAEF), Churchill Otieno.
Others were Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Edetaen Ojo; Executive Director, International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade; and President, the Nigerian chapter of the Vienna-based, International Press Institute (IPI), Musikilu Mojeed.
The groups said the letter was in response to a recent statement by Vice President Kashim Shettima, suggesting that no journalist have been harassed in Nigeria since the Tinubu Administration took office.
In the letter copied to the Vice President and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, the organisations said they were writing to the President to express alarm over the Vice President’s remarks.
They noted that “This mischaracterisation conveys a grave indifference to the numerous and well-documented attacks on the press while you have been president, including violent abuses and arrests by Nigerian security forces.”
According to them, “on February 27, a State House press release quoted Vice President Shettima as saying to members of the Nigerian Press Council, ‘For the past three years, have you heard of any harassment of journalists?’ He added that your ‘tolerance threshold is so high.’”
The organisations noted that the State House press release also said that the Tinubu administration had promoted “an environment that is conducive for journalists to carry out their duties without harassment.”
We have not seen meaningful efforts to end impunity when journalists are targeted, and your government even sought to appeal a court judgment ordering government action to improve press freedom and the investigation of attacks against the press.
Documented attacks
However, they said, since President Tinubu assumed office as President of Nigeria in 2023, the CPJ has documented Nigerian authorities detaining journalists without warning and mistreating them in custody, while numerous journalists have been arrested and prosecuted over their reporting, including on defamation and cybercrime charges.
For instance, the organisations said, in August 2024, CPJ documented at least 56 journalists assaulted or harassed by Nigerian security forces or citizens while covering the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations and that masked security forces even fired bullets and tear gas in the direction of 18 working journalists.
Additionally, they pointed out that in 2024, IPC documented 65 cases of attacks on journalists, which varied from physical assault, harassment, threats to life, intimidation, murder, and unlawful and prolonged detentions.
The organisations also cited Media Rights Agenda’s 2025 annual report, which similarly tracked 86 incidents of attacks on press freedom across Nigeria, while noting that IPI Nigeria has identified a pattern of impunity for such incidents in the country.
They said CJID, which tracks media freedom violations, has verified at least 231 attacks on the press since the President took office, and in 2024 wrote to the President’s office urging decisive action to stop such incidents.
The organisations recounted that since 1992, CPJ has documented the killing of at least 23 journalists in Nigeria, as well as two others who are missing and presumed dead, while at least 13 of these journalists are confirmed to have been killed in connection with their work.
They cited the case of one of the journalists, Onifade Emmanuel Pelumi, who was found dead in a mortuary days after he was seen in police custody after being shot while reporting in Lagos in 2020, adding that “Over five years later, despite repeated pleadings, Pelumi’s body has yet to be returned to his family.”
The organisations said: “We have not seen meaningful efforts to end impunity when journalists are targeted, and your government even sought to appeal a court judgment ordering government action to improve press freedom and the investigation of attacks against the press.
“Media Rights Agenda filed the case. Nigeria has elections scheduled for early 2027, and we have documented how such moments of political tension often correspond with spikes in attacks on journalists. This is a pattern that should be addressed with informed government actions, but the Vice President’s recent statements demonstrate a clear failure to recognize and respond to the dangers Nigerian journalists face, including from law enforcement tasked with protecting the public.”
Mischaracterisation of press freedom
The organisations described the remarks as also reminiscent of Nigerian officials’ previous false claims and mischaracterisation about press freedom conditions.
They insisted that since Vice President Shettima referred to the administration as “a friend of the media”, it is time to match those words with action by holding those responsible for attacks to account, returning Pelumi’s body to his family, and ensuring the periods before, during, and after the coming elections are safe for those who report the news.
The organisations therefore called on President Tinubu to hold accountable those responsible for abuses against the media that have taken place during and before his tenure.
He is equally urged to take further action to reform Nigerian laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized as general elections are scheduled for early 2027, and his action to protect the press and Nigerian democracy is essential.
