Security agencies perpetrated 45 out of the 69 attacks against journalists recorded between January and October 2024, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a non-governmental organisation with focus on freedom of expression, has revealed.

On Tuesday, MRA released a report titled ‘Media Freedom Under Threat: The State of Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in Nigeria 2024′, detailing how the police, military and intelligence services have been the worst enemies of the media in the country.

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In 2022, these security agencies were responsible for 29 out of the 64 attacks against journalists and 34 out of the 77 recorded in 2023.

These figures indicate that the situation worsened in 2024, with 65 per cent of the attacks documented between January 1 and October 31 attributed to security agencies.

Some of the attacks documented in the first 10 months of this year include 21 cases of assault and battery, 17 instances of arbitrary arrests and detention, three cases of raids on homes and offices of journalists, and eight cases of threat to life.

Others include two cases of harassment, six cases of abductions/kidnapping, five journalists obstructed from performing their duties; one journalist killed and six other forms of attacks. 

“It is ironic that the institutions tasked with upholding the rule of law and ensuring the safety and security of citizens, including journalists, have instead become the instruments of oppression against the media,” John Gbadamosi, MRA’s programme officer, said.

“It is worse still that the pervasive culture of impunity which has ensured a lack of accountability for past attacks has now emboldened these perpetrators to the extent that we are now seeing them at their most horrendous.”

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Some of the attacks 2024 has witnessed range from the abduction of Daniel Ojukwu, FIJ reporter, by the police in Lagos State on the orders of Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), to the detention of Fisayo Soyombo, founder of FIJ, by the police in August and his recent arrest by the military in November.

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) also arrested Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, in September, while the DSS arrested Adejuwon Soyinka, the West Africa editor of Africa Confidential, in August.

In March, soldiers stormed the residence of Segun Olatunji, the former editor of FirstNews, and then arrested him. He would spend two weeks in an underground military cell afterwards.