Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the Nigeria Police Force have decried attacks on journalists carrying out their duties.

In its 2025 Annual Report on Freedom of Expression in Nigeria, MRA documented a total of 86 incidents of attacks against journalists, media houses, and citizens during the year.

The report titled, “The Reign of Impunity,” with 147-pages report captured 86 separate incidents of violations of media freedom and freedom of expression as well as attacks against journalists and media organisations across 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja with no single case resulting in a successful investigation or prosecution of the perpetrators of the attacks even where their actions constituted criminal offences.

A key finding contained in the MRA’s report is the fact that arrests and detentions were the primary tools for the suppression of media freedom and freedom of expression, being the most common form of attack, with 38 documented cases, accounting for over 44 per cent of all incidents reported.

The report also documented widespread physical violence with 21 recorded cases of assault and battery, accounting for over 24 per cent of all incidents. Assault and battery ranked as the second-highest form of attack documented in the report.

In terms of perpetrators of attacks against journalists and violations of other freedom of expression rights, the Nigeria Police Force was identified in the report as the worst offender and was responsible for 41 incidents, nearly 48 per cent of all the attacks.

The report states that the Department of State Services (DSS) followed as the second worst perpetrator, involved in approximately seven per cent of the documented cases with the result that the two security and law enforcement agencies accounted for over 50 per cent of all violations.

Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, recorded the highest number of attacks, with 16 and 14 incidents respectively.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force, identified as the major attacker of journalists, has said that it does not, in any way, support attacks on journalists while covering protests or carrying out their lawful duties.

The Force said journalists were free to perform their constitutional roles and should be protected at all times, describing any attack on media professionals as unacceptable.

An officer at the Public Relations Department of the Nigeria Police Force, ASP Olamiju Olubunmi, stated this yesterday at a multi-stakeholder roundtable on strengthening civic space, organised by the Kimpact Development Initiative in Abuja.

Olubunmi said the police frowned on all forms of intimidation and violence against journalists, noting that the Force maintained a cordial relationship with the media.

She said: “I want to state clearly that the Nigeria Police Force does not in any way support journalists being attacked while carrying out their duties,” she said.

She, however, acknowledged that misconduct by a few officers often overshadowed the conduct of the majority.

“In an organisation of over 100,000 people, you can have a few bad eggs. Unfortunately, their actions are what get broadcast to the whole world,” she added.