Civic Pulse Nigeria
Quarterly civic space report
Q4 2025
October to December 2025
Complete quarter. Generated 19 Sept 2026.
- Published records
- 5
- Change on Q3 2025
- -1
- States named
- 3
- Reporting organisations
- 3
5 civic space records were published for October to December 2025, against 6 in July to September 2025. Arrests and Detention was the most frequently recorded category.
Records by category
- Arrests & Detention4
- Citizen Engagement1
- Government Discourse0
- Resource Access0
- Legal & Regulatory0
- Harassment0
Where records were located
- Federal Capital Territory2
- Lagos2
- Kano1
Who reported these incidents
- Rights monitors
- 1
- News outlets
- 4
- Official and court records
- 0
- AllAfrica3
- Committee to Protect Journalists1
- Sahara Reporters1
The records
- 27 Nov 2025·Lagos·CPN-0033
Nigerian authorities detain another journalist for cybercrimes over governance reports
Journalist Friday James Alefia was arrested at his home in Lagos and transferred to detention in Abuja on cybercrime charges relating to governance reporting, facing up to three years in prison.
- 1 Nov 2025·Kano·CPN-0034
3 Nigerian journalists detained on cybercrime allegations, despite reform
CPJ documents three journalists detained on cybercrime allegations despite amendments to the legislation, including the arrest of Ibrahim Danuwa Rano in Kano, taken from his office without a warrant over alleged defamation of an official and operating an online television station without an NBC licence.
- Committee to Protect Journalists: https://cpj.org/2025/11/3-nigerian-journalists-detained-on-cybercrime-allegations-despite-reform/
- 23 Oct 2025·Federal Capital Territory·CPN-0035
Police arrest Sahara Reporters publisher Sowore outside Abuja court
Police arrested human rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore just outside the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he had appeared for a hearing in one of the criminal cases filed against him by the police. Sowore called the case bogus and politically motivated.
- 21 Oct 2025·Lagos·CPN-0036
Lagos journalist arrested after exposing N350 million constituency project fraud linked to lawmaker
A Lagos journalist was arrested after publishing an investigation into an alleged N350 million constituency project fraud linked to a serving lawmaker.
- 21 Oct 2025·Federal Capital Territory·CPN-0037
Nigeria: Amnesty International slams police over clampdown on pro-Nnamdi Kanu protesters
Amnesty International criticised security operatives who disrupted peaceful demonstrations in Abuja calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, with tear gas used to disperse protesters.
How this report was compiled
Every record in this report is compiled by hand from reports published by named rights monitors, news outlets and official bodies, and links to the source it draws on. Each record is dated to the incident where its source gives that date, and otherwise to the date the source was published. The figures show what has been recorded, not the full extent of what has happened: incidents that were never reported do not appear, and a state with few records is not necessarily a state where little took place.