Student Arrested for Criticising Niger State Governor

A postgraduate student of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), Abubakar Isah Mokwa, has been arrested by the police for allegedly criticising the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, on Facebook.

Mokwa, a student in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, was reportedly arrested at his off-campus residence in Lapai late Thursday night. The arrest followed a Facebook post in which he allegedly criticised the governor’s leadership and performance in office.

Confirming the arrest, the spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said Mokwa was apprehended following a complaint related to cyberbullying, cyberstalking and other cybercrime offences.

According to him, “The Niger State Police Command received a criminal complaint bordering on cyberbullying, cyberstalking and other cybercrime-related offences against one Abubakar Isah Mokwa, 29, of Mokwa Local Government Area, and a postgraduate student of IBBUL. He was invited and arrested by the Lapai Division on October 23, 2025, at about 11 p.m. and transferred to the State Police Command Headquarters in Minna for further investigation. The suspect remains in custody, and further developments will be made public.”

The arrest has generated public concern among students, journalists, and human rights advocates, who see it as part of a growing trend of suppression of free expression in the state.

This is not the first time the administration of Governor Bago has faced accusations of targeting critics and journalists. In August 2025, the Niger State Government ordered the suspension of Badegi 90.1 FM, an independent radio station based in Minna, over alleged criticism of the governor.

The International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria had earlier expressed concern over similar incidents, describing them as signs of increasing repression against the press in the state.

IPI noted that in January 2025, Yakubu Mustapha, the Niger State correspondent for Peoples Daily and chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), was detained for three days after allegedly circulating an article critical of the governor’s media adviser.

Similarly, in November 2023, Mustapha Nasiru Batsari, the Voice of America (VOA) correspondent in Niger State, was reportedly assaulted by a commissioner in the governor’s cabinet after requesting an interview about a violent clash between farmers in Bosso Local Government Area.

As of the time of this report, the police have not disclosed whether Mokwa will be charged in court. Human rights groups and student associations have called for his immediate release and urged the authorities to respect citizens’ right to freedom of expression.