The frequent arrests of journalists while carrying out their professional duties and exercising their constitutional rights pose a serious threat to press freedom in Nigeria and undermines democracy, Davidson Iriekpen writes
The sudden abduction and disappearance of a journalist with the online news platform, Secret Reporters, Stanley Ugagbe, for five days before the intervention of Nigeria Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) which secured his release from police custody last Monday, has again shown how endangered journalists have become in Nigeria.
Ugagbe was said to have been abducted from his residence in the Jikwoyi area of Abuja on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at about 6:30 p.m. by unidentified armed men.
According to reports, neighbours saw four men in plain clothes arrive in an unmarked Mitsubishi Pajero SUV before taking the journalist away. While one of the men carried an assault rifle, another was dressed in shorts.
Secret Reporters said it initially suspected the involvement of the Department of State Services (DSS). However, after contacting the agency, it was informed that Ugagbe was neither in its custody nor arrested by its operatives. It added that the search later shifted to the Nigeria Police Force after a confidential source alleged that officers attached to the Police Violent Crimes Response Unit (VCRU) in Guzape, Abuja, carried out the abduction. However, efforts to verify remained unsuccessful.
According to the report, lawyers representing the organisation visited the Guzape police division on Thursday, July 2, 2026, to determine whether the journalist was being held there and possibly seek his release. The police division, however, denied arresting or detaining the journalist.
Penultimate Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) raised concerns that Ugagbe’s disappearance could be linked to a recent investigation into the corruption and infidelity allegations involving a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It alleged that the senior CBN official concealed ownership of a luxury property in the United States.
The said investigation was published on June 16 by Secret Reporters on its website, titled: ‘CBN Deputy Governor Emem Nnana Usoro Hides N1.4billion California Luxury Condo in Asset Declaration Scandal (1)’.
Even though the report did not carry the name of a journalist, he was believed to be the lead reporter. He was said to have received a telephone call from a man identified as “Ibrahim” after he contacted the CBN executive named in the investigation for comment before publication.
According to CPJ, the caller denied the allegations and asked the journalist not to publish the report. It further quoted Secret Reporters’ publisher, Tega Oghenedoro, as saying police sources informed the organisation that Ugagbe had been taken to the former Special Anti-Robbery Squad facility in Abuja’s Guzape district.
However, searches at the location, police stations in Jikwoyi, the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command Headquarters did not establish his whereabouts. The command’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, disclosed that police were investigating the disappearance but had found no record indicating that Ugagbe was in police custody.
CPJ noted that calls and messages to the spokesperson for the Nigeria Police Force, Anietie Okokon, received no response. It also said it reached out to the Director General of DSS, Oluwatosin Ajayi, the CBN executive named in the publication, and phone numbers listed publicly on the CBN website, but received no replies.
Despite the denial, at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 6, 2026, Ugagbe was released to the President of IPI Nigeria, Musikilu Mojeed. Although he was granted bail, the police investigations into allegations of espionage, cyberstalking and computer-related offences were said to be continuing.
The travail of Ugagbe has again shown what journalists face while carrying out their professional duties and exercising their constitutional rights.
Not a few have faulted Gestapo-manner Ugagbe was arrested by the police and rendering him incommunicado for days before he was finally found.
Currently, Nigeria ranks 112 with a global score of 46.81 in the world press freedom index according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). This shows that the actions of agents of the federal and state governments toward journalists in recent times undermine constitutional democracy and weaken public trust in institutions.
Since the inception of the current administration in 2023, the military, police, and DSS have been notorious for their Gestapo-like tactics in arresting and unlawfully detaining perceived government critics, especially journalists
What started with the arrest of the then Editor of FirstNews newspaper, Segun Olatunji, in March 2023 by operatives of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) has become a habit of security agencies to silence journalists and instil fear in them.
Soon after Olatunji’s travails, another journalist, Daniel Ojukwu, was on May 1, 2023, abducted by the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police.
Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was said to have gone missing on May 1 with his phone numbers switched off and his whereabouts unknown to colleagues, family and friends.
However, a few days later, it was discovered that he was being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti area of Lagos.
Investigation revealed that Ojukwu was held for an alleged violation of the 2015 Cybercrime Act based on a story he wrote.
The Cybercrime Act, a regulatory framework for prosecuting cybercrimes, has become a law used by the federal government to prosecute journalists and media houses.
Such incidents suggest that the administration of President Bola Tinubu not only condones repression of freedom of the press.
Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution clearly gives the media the power to hold the government accountable to the people, but sometimes, the same government, whether at the federal or state level, goes after journalists discharging their constitutional responsibility.
Under the same constitution and other international instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory, it is forbidden for any citizen or resident to be detained beyond 48 hours, except with a valid court order, but security agencies turn a blind eye to this.
The continued criminalisation of legitimate journalistic work by security agencies not only undermines press freedom and the rule of law but also damages the democratic credentials and international reputation of the current administration.
It is sad that the security agencies demonstrate show of maximum force against unarmed and harmless journalists but can’t go after bandits that torture their victims to death and display their ransom openly on social media.
If the same zeal is deployed to arrest bandits whose gangs continue to terrorise citizens, surely, the country would be free from hunger and fear.
A free press serves as a watchdog on power. Without freedom of the press, Nigeria’s democracy is endangered. A free press is also critical in exposing abuse of power and corruption.
