The International Press Institute (IPI) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to caution Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State against taking actions that impede on the rights of journalists and media organisations to carry out their professional duties within the state.
IPI Nigeria, in a statement jointly signed by Fidelis Mbah and Tobi Soniyi, Deputy President and Legal Adviser, said some of Governor Bago’s actions, and those of some officers working under him have infringed on press freedom, citing the recent assault on Musa Mikail, a senior reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) at a public event as the latest of such acts.
Mikail, who was covering a Ramadan Iftar at the palace of the Etsu Nupe in Bida, Niger State on March 13, 2026, was reportedly assaulted and forced out of the venue by some private guards on the instruction of Shehu Abdullahi Maikano, the chief security officer to Governor Bago.
According to the NTA staff, he was standing with his cameraman when the Governor’s CSO approached and asked them to move. “I explained that we were not obstructing anyone and we are carrying out our professional duties. Despite this, he pushed me, and other security operatives attacked me and forced me out of the event,” Mikail said.
The IPI said the latest assault on the NTA reporter represents a disturbing trend of blatant acts of violation of press freedom and hostilities toward journalists by Governor Bago and some officials under his administration.
It recalled that last month, the Niger State police command summoned and detained a reporter of Prestige FM, Minna, Ahmed Isah Sakpe, over allegations that he defamed a protocol officer attached to Governor Bago. In November last year, the Niger State Governor arbitrarily ordered the closure of Badeggi FM Radio, over broadcasts purported to have incited the public against his government.
In May 2025, a freelance journalist, Ibrahim Ndamitso, who had at a public event asked Governor Bago a question about a kidnapping incident that occurred on the Kontagora-Minna road in October, 2024, was accused by the Governor of working with bandits, and thereby handed over to the police for profiling.
In December 2024, Yakubu Mustapha Bina was invited and interrogated by the Niger State office of the State Security Service (SSS) after filing a report stating that Governor Bago’s entourage had missed its way during a rural tour of the North West Senatorial District of the state on December 1, 2024.
In November 2023, Mustapha Batsari, a correspondent of the Voice of America (VOA) in Niger State was assaulted and threatened by the state Commissioner of Homeland Security, Major General Bello Mohammed Abdullahi (rtd), right inside the Government House in Minna.
The persistent attempts to suppress freedom of expression and silence journalists by Governor Bago and some officials of his administration led to the Governor’s inclusion in the IPI Nigeria’s Book of Infamy which was launched on December 2, 2025, for press freedom violations, intimidation of journalists, and attempts to stifle free speech.
IPI Nigeria also called on the Inspector General of Police, Tunji Disu, to immediately launch an investigation into the incident, and sanction Governor Bago’s CSO who ordered the assault on the journalist.
