…Asks IGP to sanction Governor’s CSO
The International Press Institute (IPI) has urged President Bola Tinubu to caution Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umar Bago against taking actions that impede on the rights of journalists and media organisations to carry out their professional duties within the state.
In a statement jointly signed by Fidelis Mbah and Tobi Soniyi, Deputy President and Legal Adviser, revealed that 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.
