By Emmanuel Thomas l Friday, Sept 11, 2026
KADUNA –When armed police officers stormed the operational headquarters of JKD TV and Hamada Radio Network in Kaduna, arbitrarily detaining its station manager and hunting an investigative journalist, they were doing far more than executing a heavy-handed raid.- They were actively dismantling the legal architecture of Nigerian democracy.
An attack on independent media is an explicit attempt to blind the public. The government must immediately release all arbitrarily detained personnel, cease the unlawful harassment of journalists, and realign police actions with the legal standards imposed by the Constitution and international law.
The assault—triggered by a video explainer scrutinizing a senior aide to the President—exposes a growing, dangerous amnesia within state institutions regarding the legal boundaries of executive power. Under both Nigerian domestic law and international human rights frameworks, the unlawful arrest of journalists and media workers is not a routine policing exercise; it is an illegal act of state terror.
The Constitutional Mandate: Duty, Not Just Permission
Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria explicitly guarantees that “every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”
However, the constitutional protection of the press goes beyond simple individual liberty. Section 22 of the Constitution explicitly charges the media with an affirmative duty:
”The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives… and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”
When law enforcement targets a newsroom to shield a public official from public scrutiny, they are directly obstructing a constitutional mandate. Scrutinizing public officers is not a privilege granted by the government at its discretion; it is a constitutional duty imposed on the press by the supreme law of the land.
The International Framework: Breach of Binding Treaties
The state’s overreach in Kaduna also violates several international treaties to which Nigeria is legally bound.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Article 9): Fully ratified and domesticated into Nigerian domestic law, Article 9 provides that every individual has the right to express and disseminate opinions. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has repeatedly ruled that arbitrary arrests of journalists to suppress criticism directly violate this Charter.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, Article 19): Guarantees the right to seek, receive, and impart information of all kinds. The UN Human Rights Committee has emphasized that public figures are legitimately subject to criticism, and states cannot use criminal laws or state coercion to suppress public debate.
The Prohibition Against Arbitrary Detention (Article 9, Universal Declaration of Human Rights): Arresting media executives, security guards, or family members to coerce a journalist into surrendering is an illegal form of administrative hostage-taking.
The Dangerous Fallacy of “Official Immunity”
No statutory authority permits state actors to use law enforcement apparatuses as private enforcement tools for sensitive politicians. If a public official believes a news report is inaccurate or defamatory, the law provides clear, peaceful remedies through civil litigation.
Deploying armed units to shut down broadcasting stations replaces the rule of law with the rule of force. When newsrooms are turned into crime scenes simply for performing investigative reporting, the result is a chilling effect that deprives 200 million citizens of their right to know.
An attack on independent media is an explicit attempt to blind the public. The government must immediately release all arbitrarily detained personnel, cease the unlawful harassment of journalists, and realign police actions with the legal standards imposed by the Constitution and international law.
