In its 2024 Openness Index, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) declared Imo State the worst place to be a journalist in Nigeria. The index, a subnational evaluation of press freedom and civic house in Nigeria, was printed in July. It ranked states based mostly on political openness, media independence, and the protection of civic actors.
The Imo State Authorities shortly dismissed the report. Commissioner for Info Declan Emelumba described the report as “fraught with fallacies and sensational stunts,” insisting it was “biased, jaundiced, unreliable, and completely unempirical.”
However when Martin Opara, editor of the Nigerian Watchdog Newspaper, learn the report, he merely smiled, as a result of his organisation had been a sufferer of focused harassment and assault by the state authorities. For him, the CJID report mirrored actuality, his newspaper having borne the brunt of state hostility.
“Since 2015, our workplace has been raided greater than 5 occasions by the police, often due to publications we launched,” Mr Opara informed PREMIUM TIMES in late August. “In 2023, our correspondent was banned from masking proceedings on the Home of Meeting. They informed us outright: ‘We don’t need Watchdog right here.”
In contrast to many native retailers, Mr Opara stated the Nigerian Watchdog Newspaper insists on publishing studies that maintain establishments and governments accountable.
That independence has additionally made them a goal. “Unbiased journalism has turn out to be very troublesome right here,” he lamented. “We face raids, arrests, bans, false accusations, and fixed intimidation. However we proceed to do our work.”
Press freedom beneath siege.
The CJID’s index paints a troubling nationwide image: 48 press freedom violations have been recorded between December 2023 and November 2024, largely perpetrated by safety businesses. Police, navy, and state safety brokers have been recognized as the principle culprits in harassing journalists and suppressing dissent.
On the finish of the spectrum, Cross River ranked highest for openness, with Ondo, Delta, Katsina, and Ekiti additionally performing effectively.
Against this, the lowest-performing states based mostly on the notion index are Anambra, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Ebonyi, and Imo, with Imo sitting on the backside.
The index evaluates states throughout seven components: political atmosphere, authorized framework, financial pressures, socio-cultural context, journalistic rules, remedy of journalists, and gender inclusion.
Press freedom advocate Stephanie Adams-Douglas informed PREMIUM TIMES that arbitrary arrests, assaults, and lawsuits focusing on journalists violate constitutional rights. “When accountability is absent for these violations, it results in a deterioration of the system, in the end undermining integrity and fact within the media,” she stated.
She added: “This entails guaranteeing that perpetrators who commit acts of violence or intimidation towards journalists are held accountable.”
Inside Imo: “They threatened to kill me”
For Anslem Anokwute, the findings in CJID’s report should not summary metrics. They’re his lived experiences. Mr Anokwute had labored with a number of newspapers, together with Watchdog Newspaper, earlier than floating a web-based outfit, Otikpu Newspaper.
On 17 June, he printed a report detailing how the governor’s aide on Monitoring and Compliance, Chinasa Nwaneri, allegedly usurped the Ministries of Lands and Transport roles by issuing directives beneath his personal identify.
“After the story went viral, on July tenth, he threatened me brazenly, saying he would ship boys to my home and have me bundled away,” Mr Anokwute recalled. “Colleagues known as to warn me, however I wasn’t afraid. I solely reported the reality.”
The backlash was quick. The report was republished by a number of on-line platforms, casting the battle as authorities hostility towards journalists. Amid mounting stress, Mr Nwaneri backed off, however the menace lingered.
“Due to the backlash, folks began calling the governor’s aide from totally different corners. Since then, he has prevented confrontation with me, however I do know the matter isn’t settled,” Mr Anokwute stated.
“I even met the commissioner of police, who suggested me to file a petition. I informed him I’d wait till the threats became motion,” he stated.
On the state of press freedom within the south-eastern state, Mr Anokwute’s conclusion is blunt: “There isn’t a actual press freedom in Imo. When journalists are arrested, threatened, or informed they are going to be killed, what freedom exists?”
Since 2020, Mr Anokwute added, appointees have been beneath strict orders to not grant interviews to journalists.
“Even commissioners communicate off the document and beg us to not quote them. They’re afraid of sanctions.”
“As we speak, threats come straight from the state authorities (Imo),” he stated, including that “Beneath former governor Rochas Okorocha, even once we criticised him, he informed us: ‘Use my identify, make your cash, simply inform the reality.’ However this administration is totally different.”
Assaulted, sued, and silenced
Bodily assault and lawsuits are additionally widespread weapons towards journalists in Imo.
In January 2024, a journalist working with Newsbreak Newspaper, Kelechi Ugo, was attacked whereas investigating allegations towards Rosemary Izuogu, the previous chairperson of the state’s Native Authorities Service Fee.
“We discovered her son assaulted a workers member,” Mr Ugo defined. “On the hospital, I photographed the sufferer. Once I went to Mrs Izuogu’s workplace for her aspect of the story, she claimed it was a non-public workplace and ordered me out. Then her son bodily assaulted me, saying journalists had no proper to be there.”
Regardless of the assault, Mr Ugo filed his report. However as an alternative of accountability, the official sued the publishing newspaper in court docket. The case stays pending in court docket.
“As journalists, we solely have our pens. We don’t have weapons,” Mr Ugo stated. “But once we do our job, they sue us to silence us.”
The Nigerian Watchdog can also be battling lawsuits filed by political figures over its studies.
Its editor, Mr Opara, informed PREMIUM TIMES that Strategic Lawsuits In opposition to Public Participation (SLAPPs) are more and more deployed to empty media homes financially and intimidate reporters.
Treasured Nwadike, writer of the Nigeria Watchdog Newspaper, corroborated this account, saying press freedom is completely absent in Imo State.
Mr Nwadike recalled that in 2015, he was arrested and detained for his story, which uncovered how a cook dinner connected to Uche Nwosu, the chief of workers to then-governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, allegedly stole an enormous sum of cash.
“The matter lasted 4 years from 2015 to 2019,” he informed PREMIUM TIMES.
The journalist maintained that the frequent assaults, arrests and litigations towards reporters blur claims of press freedom in Imo State.
“If for any cause a journalist holds the federal government accountable, or questions their programmes and actions, you will have turn out to be an enemy of the federal government,” Mr Nwadike stated, noting that the Nigerian Watchdog and its journalists have turn out to be targets of sundry lawsuits in such situations.
“Scary diploma of intolerance”
A human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, informed PREMIUM TIMES that the answer to frequent harassment, police invites, and lawsuits towards journalists is for journalists to accentuate “factual” reporting to show society’s ills.
Mr Effiong stated harassment and lawsuits persist primarily resulting from ignorance of the regulation.
“Beneath the Cybercrimes Act as amended, it’s not permissible to arrest journalists based mostly on publications they’ve made which somebody finds offensive or defamatory,” he stated.
“The continued reliance on the Cybercrimes Act by the police and different individuals; they’re fully ignorant and misguided.”
Within the case of Imo State, Mr Effiong argued that Governor Uzodinma has demonstrated a “scary diploma of intolerance” towards dissenting views, citing the case of a lawyer within the state lately invited by the police for criticising the governor.
Threats earlier than publication
The intimidation typically begins earlier than a narrative is even printed.
Mr Opara of the Nigeria Watchdog recounted texting the official concerned to get her response whereas investigating alleged corruption within the schooling ministry.
“As an alternative of replying, she accused me of making an attempt to discount together with her,” he stated. “Then I obtained a name from Ferdinand Uzodinma, the governor’s brother and deputy chief of workers. He requested me to drop the story. Once I refused, he invited me to Authorities Home. A contact later warned me it was a lure, that I’d have been picked up on the gate with out a document of my go to, and they’d sue me.”
“These are the sorts of pressures we face,” Mr Opara stated. “Regardless of the intimidation, I plan to publish my report with proof to again it up.”
“No one treats us as human beings”
For a lot of Imo journalists, the hostility goes past official circles.
Nkechi Ojukwu, a journalist with Newspoint Newspaper, lamented: “It’s a horrible state of affairs in Imo State. No one treats us as human beings. We’re the fourth property of the realm, recognised by the structure, but folks deal with us like we’re no person (in Imo State). We’re the watchdog of society.”
Though safety operatives haven’t arrested Ms Ojukwu, the truth that a few of her colleagues have been detained and intimidated raises considerations.
Curiously, journalists working for state-owned media organisations in Imo State additionally battled restricted entry to info.
Charles Nnaji (not his actual identify), a journalist with the state-owned Statesman Newspaper, informed PREMIUM TIMES in August that the state authorities had been “very unfriendly” to journalists.
Mr Nnaji stated the federal government makes use of a “divide and rule” model by selecting to work with a number of journalists who produce studies which are “beneficial” to them whereas combating others who attempt to maintain them accountable.
He added that he has not suffered any assaults as a result of he doesn’t do “crucial studies” towards the federal government, contemplating that he works for them.
Mr Nnaji stated even group members and non-state actors contribute to creating the atmosphere hostile for journalists.
“You possibly can’t boldly determine as a journalist anymore, particularly for those who do investigative work,” Mr Nnaji stated.
“Right here in Imo State, the atmosphere is hostile (for journalists who do crucial studies) not solely from the federal government however even from non-public people in communities.”
Combating repression
In response to mounting threats and intimidation, some journalists shaped the Affiliation of Imo-Based mostly Journalists, led by Mr Ugo.
“All these harassed often run to me. We defend them,” he stated.
When the governor’s aide threatened Mr Anokwute, the affiliation rallied behind the journalist. “We issued a press launch defending him. If we hadn’t, I don’t know what would have occurred.”
The group has documented a number of instances of police brutality towards journalists and situations the place reporters have been barred from masking public occasions. “Journalism in Imo is a herculean job,” Mr Ugo stated.
Arrests on repeat
Past harassment and lawsuits, arrests are frequent.
In July 2023, broadcaster Chinonso Uba, popularly generally known as Nonso Nkwa, was arrested after anchoring his morning programme on Ozisa FM, a privately owned radio station in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
Mr Uba’s arrest was based mostly on allegations of cyberstalking, character defamation, and misinformation. Police claimed that they had clips proving his offences.
An FCT excessive court docket later ordered his launch after one month in detention.
“They (Imo State Authorities) stated I dedicated cybercrime towards the governor (Gov Uzodinma) by saying that the governor introduced in Ebubeagu in Imo to kill Imo folks and youths,” he informed PREMIUM TIMES.
Ebubeagu is a safety outfit created by the Imo State Authorities. However the outfit has repeatedly been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, extortion and different crimes.
“The case remains to be in court docket until now,” Mr Uba informed PREMIUM TIMES. The journalist later confronted a recent arrest in 2024, once more on allegations of defamation.
“On October 20, 2024, I used to be arrested once more by the federal government of Imo State and brought to a Justice of the Peace court docket that works with the federal government, and the court docket remanded me in jail after charging me with treasonable felony, arson, terrorism and others,” he stated.
Mr Uba recalled that the costs towards him adopted his criticism of the alleged deliberate institution of an Internally Displaced Individuals Camp for folks from northern Nigeria within the Nsu group in Ehime Mbano LGA.
“I spent two months in jail earlier than I used to be lastly launched by the court docket,” he stated, declaring that the case later died as a result of the costs couldn’t be proved.
In mid-September, the journalist was invited by the police in Imo State after importing a video clip on a Fb web page which confirmed police operatives have been allegedly colluding with others to hold out unlawful organ harvesting within the state.
“I will probably be going to the police at the moment with one or two victims of organ harvesting. I’ll meet with the Commissioner of Police at the moment (22 September 2025),” he stated. “From 2020 until date, now we have had a really horrible suppression of freedom of expression and elementary human rights of Imo folks by the federal government of Hope Uzodinma.”
Imo State officers proceed to disclaim duty for these assaults.
However the verdict is obvious for journalists engaged on the bottom: in Imo, accountability journalism has turn out to be a dangerous occupation.
Angela Nkwo-Okpolu, a journalist with Management Newspaper, practised journalism in Lagos State for years earlier than relocating to Imo State in 2015.
Mrs Nkwo-Akpolu informed PREMIUM TIMES that, not like in Lagos, journalists in Imo State face heavy intimidation and suppression.
“Effectively, in Lagos, you do your report, possibly you may solely be lobbied to drop a report, not like in Imo State, the place it’s outright intimidation (of journalists),” she stated.
The journalist stated Imo authorities officers usually refuse to reply to enquiries by reporters or, at greatest, ask you to contact the governor himself.
“However it’s a close to impossibility,” she stated of getting an viewers with the governor.
She stated there was entry to info in Imo State prior to now, significantly throughout the administration of Rochas Olorocha, who ruled the state from 2011 to 2019.
“Entry to authorities officers beneath the Okorocha administration was higher. They may play pranks, however in the long run, you’d get what you needed. However no intimidation or prosecution (of journalists),” Mrs Nkwo-Akpolu recalled.
She urged that press freedom in Imo State worsened beneath Mr Uzodinma’s administration, which got here on board on 14 January 2020 after the Supreme Courtroom nullified the election of the then-Governor of the state, Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In the meantime, in addition to Mr Uba and Mrs Nkwo-Akpolu, no journalist interviewed for this report participated within the CJID survey. This reveals that extra journalists within the state shared comparable views as Mr Uba and Mrs Nkwo-Akpolu.
Assaults, arrests, lawsuits towards journalists in Nigeria
Journalists proceed to battle assaults, arrests and lawsuits in lots of components of Nigeria for merely finishing up their constitutional duties of holding establishments and governments accountable.
The 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters With out Borders (RSF) listed Nigeria as one in every of West Africa’s “most harmful and troublesome nations for journalists.”
Nigeria ranked 122nd out of 180 nations within the index. In 2024, the nation ranked better within the press freedom index, rising 112th out of 180 nations.
The RSF famous within the 2025 index that Nigerian journalists “are recurrently monitored, attacked and arbitrarily arrested.”
In accordance with a report by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), between Might 2023 and Might 2025, as an illustration, there have been at the least 141 incidents of assaults on journalists, media staff, and bizarre residents for expressing their views on varied points, together with governance, financial hardship, and the safety state of affairs in Nigeria.
The MRA earlier reported that between 1 January and 31 October 2024, there have been 69 assaults, of which safety businesses (police, navy, intelligence) have been liable for 45, representing 65 per cent of the whole assaults.
A number of the assaults towards journalists, the group famous, occurred within the type of illegal arrests and detention, bodily assault, threats to life, raids on properties/places of work, abduction, obstruction from reporting, harassment, and intimidation.
Equally, a 2023 survey by the Worldwide Centre for Investigative Reporting discovered that inside 12 months, 40 organisations, together with media organisations, journalists, and civic advocates, confronted frivolous lawsuits for reporting or advocating about problems with public concern.
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The survey, with 141 respondents, additional confirmed that a few of these affected organisations obtained as much as 10 lawsuits inside one 12 months, which frequently require the organisations or journalists to both reveal their supply of knowledge, retract a broadcast report, or pay a ‘injury price’ operating into tens of millions of Naira.
One of many Nigerian legal guidelines usually used to harass and prosecute journalists is the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act.
First enacted in 2015, the Act was later amended in 2024 after heavy criticism for suppressing free speech and dissent, primarily by its obscure sections like Part 24, which had been used towards journalists and activists for on-line statements deemed “false” or “insulting.”
In accordance with a report by the Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ), at least 29 journalists had faced prosecution under the Act before its amendment.
The CPJ additional noticed that regardless of the amendments, journalists have continued to be focused for publishing information within the public curiosity.
The group had earlier documented at the least 24 journalists killed in Nigeria between 1992 and 2023, a lot of them in reference to their reporting.
Authorities response
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Imo’s Info Commissioner, Declan Emelumba, he dismissed most accounts.
Mr Emelumba later demanded the names of the journalists and particular instances of harassment, arrest, and lawsuits towards the journalists within the state, all of which have been provided to him.
“Most of these are from native newspapers. You didn’t communicate to journalists from nationwide newspapers with credibility,” he stated.
The commissioner didn’t reply straight when requested if he categorised the people as non-journalists as a result of they don’t work in nationwide newspapers.
When supplied with the identify of a journalist working with a nationwide newspaper, Mr Emelumba claimed that he was unaware of harassment, arrest, menace, or expenses towards the journalist and others within the state.
Even when supplied with particular instances and the federal government officers concerned, the commissioner argued that the officers might need had “private points” with the affected journalists and couldn’t have been finishing up such assignments on behalf of the state authorities.
“I don’t know them,” Mr Emelumba stated when supplied with the names of journalists who had suffered harassment, arrests, or litigation within the state.
When pressed on lawsuits filed by authorities officers, he responded:
“If someone believes he was defamed and goes to court docket, I don’t suppose there’s something mistaken with that. The court docket is the due course of for settling points.”
Concerning lack of entry to info, Mr Emelumba claimed state authorities officers make info out there to “solely recognised and accredited journalists.”
