THE remand of journalist Stanley Ugagbe has once again drawn attention to the growing use of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act against journalists whose reporting touches on powerful individuals and institutions.
Ugagbe, a reporter with Secret Reporter, was remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre by a Federal High Court in Abuja after being charged with conspiracy and cyberstalking over reports concerning the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Deputy Governor Emem Usoro.
The development came after a series of events that alarmed press freedom advocates, including allegations that the journalist was abducted by armed men in Abuja before it was confirmed that he was in the custody of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre.
While the case is now before the courts, it has revived a longstanding debate about the role of the Cybercrimes Act in disputes involving journalism and public-interest reporting.
For years, media rights organisations have warned that provisions of the law originally designed to combat cyber-enabled offences such as hacking, identity theft and online fraud have increasingly been deployed against journalists and media organisations.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), most of these cases have relied on Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act, the law’s cyberstalking provision, and Section 27, which deals with conspiracy and related offences under the Act.
The CPJ noted that the two sections have routinely been invoked against journalists’ reports and online publications alleged to be false, offensive, intimidating or harmful to complainants’ reputation.
Section 24, according to Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation, is often paired with Section 27, allowing authorities to pursue conspiracy allegations alongside cyberstalking charges.
Over time, a diverse range of powerful actors, including government officials, politically connected figures, corporate executives, public institutions and private companies, have turned to these cybercrime provisions after being named or affected by critical reporting.
In this report, rather than focus on the journalists who became the targets of cybercrime investigations and prosecutions, The ICIR examine the people behind the complaints — the individuals who, directly or indirectly, set the machinery of cybercrime enforcement in motion.
Emem Usoro
Emem Usoro, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of Operations, is the most recent powerful public official whose name has become associated with the use of cybercrime provisions against a journalist.
The dispute arose from a series of reports published by Secret Reporters, an online news platform operated by publisher Fejiro Oliver and journalist Stanley Ugagbe. The publications made allegations concerning Usoro’s asset declarations, overseas property holdings and personal conduct.
Among the reports cited by prosecutors were articles alleging that the CBN deputy governor owned luxury properties in the United States that were not properly declared.
The matter escalated dramatically in July 2026 when Ugagbe disappeared after being seized by armed men in Abuja. For several days, his whereabouts were unknown, prompting concerns among colleagues, family members, and press freedom groups.
Police authorities initially denied holding him, but it was eventually confirmed that he was in the custody of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre. The journalist later alleged being blindfolded, handcuffed and held incommunicado before being transferred to the cybercrime facility.
On July 15, 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered Ugagbe’s remand in Kuje Correctional Centre after his arraignment. The court deferred consideration of his bail application and adjourned the matter until September, meaning the journalist could remain in custody for weeks while awaiting a hearing.
Chinedu Ogah
Another powerful actor is Chinedu Ogah, a member representing Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency in Ebonyi State, whose complaint over investigative reports led to the arrest, detention and prosecution of journalist Friday Alefia.
Alefia and his team published a series of investigative reports examining allegations of land grabbing, extortion and intimidation involving powerful political figures in Ebonyi State. According to the journalist, some of the reports focused on allegations connected to Ogah.
Rather than publicly rebutting the allegations, demanding a correction, exercising a right of reply, or pursuing civil remedies, Ogah filed a petition against Alefia.
The journalist said the complaint led the police to arrest him, having searched his residence, seized his international passport and informed him that a petition had been lodged against him. Alefia argued that he should have been formally invited by the police for questioning rather than arrest.
He was initially taken to the Ikeja Area F Police Command in Lagos, where he said investigators requested that he make a statement without legal counsel. He declined and only provided a statement the following day after his lawyer arrived. Alefia was subsequently transported to Abuja, where he was detained at a police facility in Guzape. There, he remained in custody until September 29, 2025, when investigators requested an additional statement.
He was subsequently charged alongside his media organisation on five counts related to the publication of allegedly false statements on a media platform and on social media, including Facebook, under Sections 24 and 27 of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act. He was eventually released in December 2025.
Mohammed Gimba
In February 2026, Mohammed Gimba, a protocol aide to Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago allegedly made a complaint that led to the arrest and detention of Ahmed Isah Sakpe, popularly known as Ahmed Lee.
Sakpe, a journalist with Minna-based Prestige FM and manager of the Crusader Radio Facebook platform, was detained by the Niger State Police Command in February 2026 over allegations of cyberbullying, defamation and the publication of false information. The case stemmed from a press statement published on the Facebook platform he managed.
The statement, reportedly issued by a youth group, addressed a political dispute in the Niger South Senatorial District and contained claims that Gimba considered damaging.
Rather than publicly responding to the claims, seeking a right of reply, or pursuing civil remedies, the complainant lodged a complaint with the police.
The petition triggered a criminal investigation, and the police invited Sakpe before being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Minna. Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun confirmed that the arrest followed allegations of falsehood, defamation of character and cyberbullying arising from the publication.
Benjamin Olabinjo
Benjamin Olabinjo, the member representing Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, became linked to the arrest and detention of Lagos-based journalist Zaccheaus Ukhueleigbe following an investigative report that scrutinised constituency project spending attributed to the lawmaker.
Ukhueleigbe had published a report on The Pendulum News titled “Revealed: How Ifako-Ijaiye Residents Suffer Despite Millions of Naira Received For Constituency Projects,” in which he alleged that Olabinjo received more than N350 million for constituency projects that were either abandoned, incomplete, or never executed despite budgetary allocations and releases.
The report also alleged that some contracts were awarded to companies linked to the lawmaker. According to the journalist, repeated efforts to obtain Olabinjo’s response before publication were unsuccessful, as his media aide, identified as Yekini, allegedly declined to provide clarification. The report has since been removed from the publication’s website.
Rather than issue a public response to the allegations, provide documentation to counter the claims, exercise a right of reply, or pursue civil remedies, events took a different turn. According to Ukhueleigbe, a meeting was arranged through the lawmaker’s aid under the pretext that Olabinjo was finally willing to grant an interview regarding the allegations.
The journalist said the invitation turned out to be a trap. Upon arriving at the agreed location, he was apprehended by police officers and taken to the Oko Oba Police Station in Lagos, where he was detained.
Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire
A complaint filed on behalf of Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the then Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), led to one of the most widely condemned actions against a journalist in 2024.
The controversy arose after Daniel Ojukwu, a reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), published an investigation into spending under the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (OSSAP-SDGs).
The report alleged that funds allocated for school construction projects were paid into the bank account of a restaurant rather than to contractors responsible for executing the projects.
What followed transformed a public-interest investigation into a criminal matter. Ojukwu was declared wanted by the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre and subsequently arrested in Lagos.
Before authorities acknowledged that he was in custody, colleagues and family members had raised concerns about his whereabouts after losing contact with him.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) later reported that the complaint underpinning the police action had been filed on behalf of Orelope-Adefulire. During his detention, Ojukwu was interrogated about the investigation, including its contents and the sources relied upon in producing it.
Andy Chime
Andy Chime, owner of Corpran International Limited, was behind a cybercrime complaint that drew investigative journalist Nurudeen Akewushola and the executive director of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan, into a police investigation in 2024.
The dispute stemmed from an ICIR investigation published in February 2024 that examined allegations surrounding the sale and development of land originally allocated for police barracks in Abuja.
The report scrutinised transactions linked to former Inspectors-General of Police Solomon Arase and Ibrahim Idris, senior police officers, the Nigeria Police Mortgage Bank and Corpran International Limited.
Months after the publication, the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre summoned Akewushola and ICIR management over allegations of cyberstalking and defamation.
The police invitation did not initially disclose who had lodged the complaint or identify the publication being investigated, prompting ICIR to publicly express concern that the summons was connected to the land investigation.
The identity of the complainant became known during police questioning. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), investigators presented Akewushola, ICIR Executive Director Dayo Aiyetan and their lawyer with a criminal complaint filed by Corpran International Limited.
CPJ also reported that Chime confirmed he had petitioned authorities over the publication, alleging cyberstalking and defamation. Akewushola and Aiyetan were interrogated for more than nine hours and were only allowed to leave after providing sureties and undertaking to return for further questioning.
Both Arase and Chime filed suits against The ICIR management and its reporters. While the Arase’s suit was struck out following his demise. Chime’s suit is still ongoing in court.
The Ayades
Elizabeth Alami Frank Ayade, a relative of former Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade, was at the centre of a cybercrime prosecution that drew journalist Agba Jalingo into a lengthy legal battle.
The case arose after CrossRiverWatch, the news platform founded by Jalingo, published a report alleging that Ayade had arranged for another individual to sit a Nigerian Law School examination on her behalf. The publication sparked a criminal case under Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, with authorities prosecuting Jalingo over the report in 2022.
Throughout the proceedings, Jalingo maintained that the publication concerned matters of public interest and denied committing any offence. The case dragged on for years before eventually ending in his acquittal on July 8, 2024.
Long before the case, the administration of former Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade had already become synonymous with one of Nigeria’s most prominent confrontations between government power and the press.
Jalingo had previously been arrested in August 2019 and detained for nearly six months over his reporting on corruption involving Ayade. In 2021, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, a West African regional court, ordered the Nigerian government to compensate Jalingo for his prolonged detention and mistreatment in custody. In 2022, a Nigerian federal court acquitted Jalingo on all charges related to the 2019 case.
Abdul Jimoh Mohammed
Abdul Jimoh Mohammed, Rector of Kwara State Polytechnic, was the complainant behind one of the most closely watched cybercrime cases involving journalists in 2024.
The case arose from the two investigative reports published by The Informant247: ‘Just a Paint Job: Inside Kwara Polytechnic’s Shoddy Project Commissioning (Part 1)’ and ‘How Kwara Polytechnic Rector Made False Claims About Institution’s Financial Status, Commissioned Shoddy, Uncompleted Projects.’
The reports, written by journalists Salihu Ayatullahi, Adisa-Jaji Azeez, Salihu Shola Taofeek and Abdulrahman Taye Damilola, examined allegations of financial mismanagement, misleading claims about the institution’s finances, and the commissioning of allegedly incomplete projects under Mohammed’s leadership.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mohammed personally filed the complaint that set the criminal process in motion.
Acting on the petition, police arrested The Informant247 Editor-in-Chief, Salihu Ayatullahi, and Managing Director, Adisa-Jaji Azeez, on February 6, 2024, before charging them in court the following day. Publisher Salihu Shola Taofeek and reporter Abdulrahman Taye Damilola were also named in the suit, although the charge sheet described them as being “at large.”
The journalists were charged with conspiracy under Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes Act, cyberstalking under Section 24(1)(b) of the same law, and defamation under Section 393 of the Penal Code. Conviction carried up to seven years’ imprisonment for conspiracy, up to three years’ imprisonment and a ₦7 million fine for cyberstalking, and up to two years’ imprisonment for defamation.
For nearly a year, the case remained before the courts as the journalists defended their reporting. However, throughout the proceedings, the prosecution failed to produce evidence establishing that the publications were false.
In January 2025, after almost 11 months of litigation, a Magistrate Court in Ilorin struck out the charges. Magistrate Adebayo Qudus dismissed the case on the grounds of abuse of court process and lack of diligent prosecution, bringing the proceedings against the journalists to an end.
Jumoke Monsura Gafar
Jumoke Monsura Gafar, then the Principal Private Secretary to Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, was the complainant in a cybercrime prosecution that brought two journalists into criminal proceedings over reports alleging abuse of office.
The case arose after Oluwatoyin Luqman Bolakale of The Satcom Media and Aiyelabegan Babatunde AbdulRazaq of Just Event Online published reports based on allegations from a political group regarding Gafar’s conduct in office.
The publications accused her of abusing her position, allegations she denied. The matter escalated into a criminal case after a complaint was lodged with law enforcement authorities and police arrested the journalists. They were charged under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act for cyberstalking and Section 27 for conspiracy on September 13, 2023,
The journalists spent days in detention before a court granted them bail on September 20, 2023. Months later, the case was struck out.
Yakubu Shehu Abdullahi
Yakubu Shehu Abdullahi, a member of the House of Representatives from Bauchi State, was behind one of the earliest documented attempts to deploy cybercrime provisions against journalists.
The dispute arose from a report published by WikkiTimes in May 2022 concerning the late Husseini Musa Gwaba, then chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi State.
The report examined threats allegedly received by Gwaba before his death and stated that Abdullahi had been unhappy with Gwaba’s emergence as party chairman, raising questions about the political tensions that preceded the incident.
Abdullahi responded by filing a complaint with the police in Bauchi, accusing the publisher of cyberstalking and other offences. Following this, WikkiTimes publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu and reporter Idris Kamal were arrested after they honoured a police invitation in June 2022.
According to accounts later published by WikkiTimes, the pair alleged that they were subjected to harsh treatment while in custody. They were later arraigned before a magistrate’s court on charges including criminal conspiracy, defamation and cyberstalking but were subsequently granted bail. A court later dismissed the case.
Cybercrime law and media freedom concerns
Amidst these intimidation and threats to press freedom, the Nigerian chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) has called for a review of existing laws, including the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2024, as amended, and criminal defamation laws, to reflect contemporary realities and align with best practices in protecting freedom of expression.
While providing insight into the role of the police, Ayode Longe, Deputy Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, recalled that Media Rights Agenda had previously described the police as a “gun for hire” following the arrest of journalists over critical reporting.
“It is of great concern that justice is now available to the highest bidder because these rich and powerful individuals have become the law that the police listen to and not the constitution or the oath they took to discharge their duties diligently without partiality,” he said.
“It means that the police will willingly tell lies to protect those who hire them for the dirty job, and rather than stay faithful to their profession, they pervert justice for money. It is a dangerous situation that needs to be stopped by all means because if they succeed, then freedom of expression will diminish and, consequently, the respect for other human rights will also diminish.”
Longe explained that influential individuals increasingly resort to the Cybercrimes Act because it offers a quicker and cheaper route than civil litigation.
“Resorting to right of reply, correction, or civil defamation suit is slow, expensive, and the result takes time to manifest, and not always in the favour of the rich and powerful. Once they see the right people and ‘wet the ground,’ all police apparatuses are deployed to storm, arrest, detain and arraign anybody who offends these ‘untouchables.” In other words, rather than pay hundreds of thousands or even millions of naira to a lawyer and wait for five to 20 years seeking justice, they ‘settle’ the police top gun, tell him/her what to do and go to sleep.”
Longe argued that the police have increasingly applied cybercrime provisions to journalists and citizens over online publications instead of focusing on cyber-enabled offences.
The ICIR made several efforts to reach the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Anietie Iniedu, to comment on these allegations, but he did not respond to calls and texts to his number as of the time of filing this report.
However, Longe said the world is moving away from criminalising expression, and Nigeria’s failure to take a cue from this raises serious concerns about the administration of justice and the independence of law enforcement agencies.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.
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