At about 6pm on June 3, 2017, Mr. Charles Otu, the Ebonyi State Correspondent of The Guardian newspaper was accosted at Vanco Junction in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, by armed men suspected to be political thugs who beat him mercilessly with clubs and other weapons. According to the journalist, …
Read More »Publisher Escapes Assassination, NUJ Condemns Attack
On June 2, 2017 at about 7.p.m., gunmen reportedly shot at Mr. Samuel Nweze, Publisher of a local tabloid, “People’s Leader” in front of his office at 2, Awolowo Street in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. According to Mr. Nweze, “I narrowly escaped death. I was lucky the assailants who came on …
Read More »AFEX Petitions AU Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to Intervene in Cameroon Crisis
The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), on April 13, 2017 petitioned the African Union (AU) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Ms. Faith Pansy Tlakula, to intervene in the deteriorating freedom of expression and human rights situation in the two Anglophone regions of Cameroon. Since …
Read More »Journalist Declared Wanted by Nigerian Army Arrested at Airport
On September 5, 2016, Ahmed Salkida, a Nigerian journalist based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates was arrested by operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport while disembarking from an Emirate Airlines plane with which he travelled. On August 14, 2016, in a statement …
Read More »Islamist Extremist Group Threatens Media Houses
The Islamist terror group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihadl, better known as Boko Haram in an 18 minutes video posted online on July 8, 2016 threatened to attack media houses in Nigeria which it accused of reporting falsehood about it, among other things. The extremist group named Voice of America …
Read More »Prison Official Assaults Journalists Covering High Court
On June 28, 2016, a prison official, Mr. A. A. Teriba, assaulted some journalists who attempted to take photographs of a convicted armed robber, Femi Adebowale, who was sentenced to death by hanging by a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja. While Mr. Bisi Onanuga, a journalist with The Nation …
Read More »Security Aides Attack Journalists in Court
On June 27, 2016, security aides to Nigeria’s Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, assaulted photo journalists who wanted to take shots when Dr. Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu arrived the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja. Both Saraki and Ekweremadu were in court to answer to charges …
Read More »Niger-Delta Militants Attack Radio Station
On June 23, 2016, Niger-Delta militants comprising of some members of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, armed with guns and other dangerous weapons invaded the premises of Rhythm FM Radio/Silverbird Television stations in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital in South-south Nigeria. They caused panic as they shot sporadically the …
Read More »Prison Officials Brutalise Newspaper Correspondent
On November 12, 2015 at 2.00pm local time, about ten officials of the Nigerian Prison Service from Kuje Prison in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), descended on Mr. Emmanuel Elebeke, a Vanguard newspaper correspondent at the premises of Court 2 of the FCT High Court, Maitama in Abuja. They …
Read More »MRA Condemns Arrest and Detention of Journalist, Calls for his Unconditional Release
LAGOS: Monday, August 31, 2015: Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today condemned the arrest and continued detention of Nigeria-based Cameroonian journalist, Simon Ateba, by the Cameroonian authorities on allegations of espionage. MRA called for his immediate and unconditional release. Mr. Ateba, a Cameroonian who has worked as a journalist in Nigeria …
Read More »