Postgraduate Student Arrested for Criticising Niger Governor on Facebook
A postgraduate student of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), Abubakar Isah Mokwa, has been arrested by the police for allegedly criticising Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State on Facebook.
Mokwa, a student of the Department of Agricultural Economy and Extension, was picked up by police from his off-campus residence in Lapai on Thursday.
Confirming the arrest, the spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said Mokwa was detained following a complaint bordering on cyber-related offences.
“The Niger State Police Command received a criminal complaint bordering on cyber b¥llying, cyber st%lking and other Cybercrime related offences against one Abubakar Isah Mokwa, 29yrs, of Mokwa, and a postgraduate student of IBBUL,” Abiodun said.
He added that the suspect was “invited and arrested by the Lapai Division on 23rd October, 2025, at about 11pm and transferred to the State Police Command Headquarters, Minna for further investigation.”
According to him, “the suspect is in custody and further development will be made public.”
This arrest adds to a growing list of incidents involving the Niger State government and critics of Governor Bago.
In August, the state government suspended Badegi 90.1 FM, an independent radio station in Minna, over alleged criticism of the governor.
Reacting to the latest arrest, the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria condemned what it described as “a growing pattern of repression against the press under Governor Bago’s leadership.”
“In January 2025, Yakubu Mustapha, the Niger State correspondent for Peoples Daily and Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ, was detained for three days after allegedly circulating an article critical of the governor’s media adviser,” IPI recalled.
“Similarly, in November 2023, Mustapha Nasiru Batsari, the Niger State correspondent of the Voice of America (VOA), was reportedly a§§aulting by a commissioner in Governor Bago’s cabinet after requesting an interview regarding a v+olent cl%sh between farmers in Beji,” it added.
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