Nigeria police charge journalists with cybercrimes for corruption reporting

On September 20, police in western Lagos State separately arrested Olurotimi Olawale, editor of the privately owned National Monitor newspaper, and Precious Eze Chukwunonso, publisher of the privately owned News Platform website. On September 27, the four journalists were charged in a Lagos federal court with violating sections 24(1)(b) and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act for reporting that implicated Segun Agbaje, chief executive officer of Guaranty Trust Bank, in alleged fraud worth 1 trillion naira (US$600 million) according to Aliagan, Akogun, and a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ. Cybercrime laws and other regulations governing online content have been widely used to jail journalists around the world. In Nigeria, at least 29 journalists have faced prosecution under the cybercrimes law since it was enacted in 2015. CPJ had warned that February’s amendments to the law, which followed years of advocacy by human rights groups and CPJ, still left journalists at risk of prosecution due to an overly broad definition of what is a criminal offense. Since the law was reformed, it has been used to summon, intimidate, and detain journalists for their work. The journalists pleaded not guilty and were remanded at a Lagos correctional center, pending a bail hearing. Although the police compelled the journalists to take down their articles, Nigeria’s federal House of Representatives subsequently announced an investigation into the bank over fraud allegations. https://cpj.org/2024/10/nigeria-police-charge-4-journalists-with-cybercrimes-for-corruption-reporting/