Nigeria’s present crisis is not only about insecurity. It is also about the visible imbalance in official urgency. In recent years, journalists, activists, protesters and online critics have been arrested, detained, charged, questioned or harassed over speech related allegations, including cybercrime, defamation and public order claims. At the same time, many communities affected by kidnappings, killings, armed raids and insurgent violence continue to face weak prevention, delayed intervention and limited accountability.
This does not mean that every critic is innocent, or that every complaint about speech is unlawful. False information, threats, extortion, incitement and genuine cybercrime can raise legitimate legal questions. The deeper issue is proportionality. A state that can identify critics, invite journalists for questioning and process complaints about online speech should also be expected to protect citizens with comparable seriousness when lives, homes and communities are under attack.
Nigeria’s constitution protects freedom of expression, including the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information. That right is not unlimited, but restrictions must be justifiable in a democratic society. The danger begins when laws meant to protect public order are applied in ways that appear to protect powerful officials from criticism more quickly than they protect ordinary citizens from violence.
The Press Freedom Record Under Scrutiny
One of the clearest recent records comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists. In April 2026, CPJ and partner organisations wrote to President Bola Tinubu after a State House release quoted Vice President Kashim Shettima as asking whether anyone had heard of harassment of journalists during the administration. CPJ rejected that impression and pointed to documented cases of journalists being detained, mistreated, arrested or prosecuted.
CPJ also recorded at least 56 journalists assaulted or harassed while covering the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance demonstrations. That figure shows that the issue was not limited to one isolated newsroom, one offended official or one controversial reporter. It pointed to a broader pattern in which journalists covering public anger were themselves exposed to intimidation, force or harassment.
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The cybercrime record adds another layer. Nigeria amended the Cybercrimes Act in 2024, narrowing the controversial Section 24. Yet CPJ reported in November 2025 that at least three Nigerian journalists had been detained since August 2025 over alleged Cybercrimes Act violations. CPJ also noted that journalists had faced prosecution under the Act before the reform, and that some still faced cybercrime related cases after the amendment.
The meaning is clear. Legal reform did not fully end the enforcement culture that treats critical reporting and online commentary as policing matters. The law may have changed, but the fear created by arrest, detention and criminal accusation remains part of Nigeria’s press freedom record.
Individual Cases That Reveal a Wider Pattern
The pattern is also visible in individual cases. Amnesty International’s Nigeria reporting states that journalists and other critics of the authorities were arrested, charged and arbitrarily detained. It cited cases such as Omoyele Sowore and Haruna Mohammed, also known as Abale Borno, who was arrested after a viral post about the poor condition of public schools in Borno State.
In February 2026, Premium Times reported that police in Niger State detained journalist Ahmed Isah Sakpe, popularly known as Ahmed Lee, over alleged cyberbullying and defamation of a state government official. The International Federation of Journalists later said Sakpe had been held for more than a week on defamation related allegations.
These cases show how criminal processes have repeatedly entered spaces of criticism, journalism and online commentary. In a democracy, public officials are expected to tolerate scrutiny. When criminal law becomes the first response to embarrassment or criticism, the boundary between lawful regulation and intimidation becomes dangerously thin.
Citizens Facing Violence and Waiting for Protection
While critics and journalists face visible state action, many citizens living under insecurity continue to ask where that same urgency is when armed groups attack.
The National Human Rights Commission’s first quarter 2026 dashboard gives an official Nigerian picture of the scale of the crisis. Between January and March 2026, the NHRC recorded 659,617 human rights complaints. In the same period, its Human Rights Observatory documented 651 kidnapping incidents and 492 killings, largely linked to banditry, insurgency and other criminal elements. The affected states included Kwara, Niger, Benue, Borno, Plateau, Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Kogi and Adamawa.
These figures are not slogans. They come from a national human rights institution. They show that killings and kidnappings remain a major part of the lived reality for many Nigerians. They also make it harder to dismiss public criticism as exaggeration. When hundreds of kidnapping incidents and killings are recorded in only one quarter, citizens are right to ask whether the state is protecting life with the same determination it sometimes shows in protecting reputation.
Plateau, Zamfara and the Burden of Delayed Protection
ACLED’s May 2026 Africa overview gives a sharp example from Plateau State. It reported that on 9 April 2026, suspected Fulani pastoralists attacked a village in Kwatas ward, Bokkos, killing at least 20 people during an attack that lasted several hours without a security response. ACLED also reported that attacks against civilians represented almost 60 percent of violence incidents in Plateau State in April 2026.
That kind of report deepens public frustration. The central complaint is not that the state is absent in every case. Security forces do conduct operations, announce arrests and fight armed groups. The problem is that protection often appears late, inconsistent or incomplete. In communities that have suffered repeated attacks, the promise of security can feel weaker than the reality of fear.
Reuters also reported on 12 May 2026 that Amnesty International said at least 100 civilians were killed in a Nigerian military airstrike on Tumfa market in Zamfara State. Reuters also reported that the Nigerian military said there was no evidence of civilian casualties from the strike. The competing claims underline the need for transparent investigation, public accountability and credible protection for civilians in conflict affected areas.
The Real Historical Question
The central issue is not whether Nigeria ever fights criminals. It does. The Nigerian state has security agencies, intelligence structures, police formations, courts and military operations. The issue is uneven urgency.
When police invitations, arrests and charges appear quickly in cases involving criticism, while communities exposed to violence wait for rescue, investigation or justice, citizens begin to read the state’s priorities differently. They begin to ask why a social media post can attract fast action, while kidnappers, armed gangs and attackers often remain harder to stop, harder to prosecute and harder to deter.
The phrase “Nigeria punishes critics more than criminals” speaks to that public frustration. It reflects the feeling that state power is often more visible when authority is criticised than when citizens are endangered. In historical terms, that perception matters. A government does not lose trust only through failure. It loses trust when people believe its strongest reactions are reserved for protecting power rather than protecting life.
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Why This Matters for Democracy
A democracy is not measured only by elections. It is also measured by how power treats criticism, how law protects the vulnerable and how quickly the state responds when citizens are in danger. If people believe that officials are more protected from embarrassment than citizens are protected from violence, trust begins to collapse.
Press freedom and public safety are connected. Journalists report insecurity. Citizens complain because they are afraid. Activists speak because institutions are failing. When the state intimidates these voices, it risks silencing the very warnings that could help expose danger before it spreads.
Nigeria’s democratic future depends on reversing this imbalance. Criticism should not automatically become a police matter. Defamation disputes should not routinely become tools of intimidation. Cybercrime laws should be used against genuine digital offences, not as a broad weapon against uncomfortable reporting. At the same time, communities facing armed violence deserve faster protection, credible investigations, transparent prosecutions and public accountability.
Author’s Note
The lesson from this period is that state power must be judged by what it protects first. Nigeria cannot build public trust if citizens see critics pursued with speed while communities under attack wait for protection that comes late or not at all. The true test of authority is not how quickly it reacts to embarrassment, but how firmly it protects life, preserves liberty and gives ordinary people confidence that the law exists for their safety, not only for the comfort of the powerful.
References
Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ and partners’ April 2026 letter to President Bola Tinubu on press freedom in Nigeria.
Committee to Protect Journalists, November 2025 report on Nigerian journalists detained on Cybercrimes Act allegations after legal reform.
National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria, Jan to Mar 2026 Human Rights Situation Dashboard.
Amnesty International, Nigeria human rights report, including arrests and detention of critics.
ACLED, Africa Overview, May 2026, including Plateau State civilian attack data.
Reuters, May 2026 reports on Amnesty International’s Zamfara airstrike allegation and the Nigerian military’s response.
Premium Times, February 2026 report on the detention of journalist Ahmed Isah Sakpe.
International Federation of Journalists, February 2026 report on Ahmed Isah Sakpe’s detention.
