Nigerian journalist Friday James Alefia, publisher of the online outlet Naija News Today ( (formerly Asiwaju Media), spent 87 days in detention following his publication of investigative reports concerning Chinedu Ogah, a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
Alefia and his team published several investigative reports between April and July 2025. According to the journalist, some of the reports examined allegations of land-grabbing, extortion, and intimidation involving the lawmaker.
In an interview with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) after his release, Alefia recounted that on September 23, 2025, six police officers from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command in Abuja arrested him at his residence in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
Alefia said the officers searched his residence, seized his international passport, and placed him under arrest, stating that a petition had been filed against him. He said he informed the officers that, as a journalist facing a complaint linked to a publication, he should be formally invited rather than arrested. The officers nonetheless took him into custody.
He was initially taken to the Ikeja Area F Command in Lagos, where he said he was asked to write a statement without legal representation, which he declined. Alefia said he provided a statement the following day after his lawyer arrived. He was then transported to Abuja.
“When we were leaving Lagos, the police harassed me and told me I was going to be handcuffed from Lagos to Abuja because I had been claiming to know my rights,” he said.
According to Alefia, he was taken to a police detention facility in Guzape, Abuja, where he remained in custody until September 29, 2025, when he was asked to provide an additional statement.
The journalist said the petition against him was submitted by Chinedu Ogah, who represents the Ezza South/Ikwo Federal Constituency of Ebonyi State in the House of Representatives. The petition reportedly accused Alefia of defamation and cyberstalking.
Alefia told the MFWA that he had contacted the lawmaker and his aides for comment during his investigation but received no response. He also alleged that the lawmaker later asked him to identify political opponents as sponsors of the publication.
Alefia was subsequently charged alongside his media outlet with five counts of publishing “false” statements on a media platform and social media, including Facebook, under Sections 24 and 27 of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, according to a charge sheet reviewed by his lawyer, Israel Opah Abida.
He appeared before the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 12, 2025, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
According to his lawyer, the court on November 27, 2025, fined the prosecutor 50,000 naira, approximately 33 US dollars, for delaying the bail process and subsequently granted Alefia bail in the sum of 20 million naira, approximately 13,000 US dollars. The bail conditions required two sureties, including a Level 15 federal civil servant residing in Abuja and another civil servant or individual with three years’ tax clearance.
Alefia said he was unable to immediately meet the conditions and remained in custody until December 19, 2025, when the bail requirements were fulfilled.
“My freedom has been trampled upon as a Nigerian and as a journalist holding power to account,” he told the MFWA.
He added that the detention has had professional and financial consequences for his newsroom, with several staff members leaving the organisation. One former staff member told him she feared being arrested if she continued working with the outlet.
The Media Foundation for West Africa condemns the detention of journalist Friday James Alefia and urges the Nigerian authorities to ensure that the Cybercrimes Act is not used in a manner that criminalises investigative reporting or suppresses public interest journalism.
The use of criminal provisions to pursue disputes arising from journalistic publications, particularly where the reporting concerns allegations of wrongdoing by public officials, risks undermining press freedom and weakening accountability in a democratic society.
The MFWA therefore calls on the Nigerian authorities to ensure that laws addressing cybercrime are applied in line with constitutional protections for freedom of expression and international standards on press freedom. Alleged reputational harms arising from publications should, as far as possible, be addressed through proportionate civil remedies rather than criminal prosecution.
