Abuja — Despite recent reforms to Nigeria's Cybercrimes Act, journalists continue to be targeted for publishing news in the public interest, with four reporters being charged under the law last month.
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.
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, Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists'president, Abdulrahman Aliagan, told CPJ.
On September 25, police arrested Rowland Olonishuwa, a reporter with the privately owned Herald newspaper, in western Kwara state and Seun Odunlami, publisher of privately owned Newsjaunts website, in nearby Ogun state, Aliagan and Kwara-based journalist Dare Akogun told CPJ.
"Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalists, Olurotimi Olawale, Precious Eze Chukwunonso, Rowland Olonishuwa, and Seun Odunlami, and swiftly drop the cybercrime charges against them," said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ's Africa Program, from New York. "Since Nigeria's Cybercrimes Act became law, it has been used to arrest and prosecute journalists, and these arrests emphasize that the recent reforms to the law have not reversed that trend."
On September 27, the four journalists were charged in a Lagos federal court with violating sections 24(1)(b) and 27 of the Cybercrime 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.
Section 24 of Cybercrime Act relates to pornographic or knowingly false messages "for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order, posing a threat to life, or causing such messages to be sent," according to a copy of the law's amendments signed by President Bola Tinubu in February. Violation of this section is punishable with up to three years in prison and a fine of 7 million naira (US$4,200).
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Section 27 relates to attempts to violate the law and conspiracy, as well as aiding and abetting. Conniving to commit "fraud using computer system(s) or network" is punishable with up to seven years in prison, according to the same copy of the amendments.
The journalists pleaded not guilty and were remanded at a Lagos correctional center, pending a bail hearing on October 4, Aliagan and Akogun told CPJ.
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.
GTBank's chief communications officer Oyinade Adegite confirmed to CPJ by phone that the bank had sought to have the journalists charged with cybercrime over their reporting, which she said was "defamatory."
CPJ's call and text messages to request comment from Lagos State police spokesperson Hauwa Idris-Adamu on September 27 went unanswered.
