Satcom Media News Today

The wave of abduction of journalists that continues to grow under a so-called democratic government has no doubt become a point of concern

Media groups and civil societies have called for the amendment Cybercrime Act Prohibition and Prevention Act 2015 following the continued abuse of its application by the Nigerian police and corrupt politicians. The stakeholders made the call on Wednesday at the Senate building of the National Assembly following a public hearing on a Bill to amend Cybercrime Act Prohibition and Prevention Act 2015 organised by the joint Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity.

If they are found guilty, Aiyelabegan Babatunde AbdulRazaq and Oluwatoyin Luqman Bolakale face the prospect of a jail sentence and a fine under the Cybercrimes Act.

On 11 September, police officers detained AbdulRazaq and Bolakale, publishers of the independent news websites Just Event Online and The Satcom Media respectively.

Two Kwara-based journalists, Abdulrazaq Aiyelabegan, publisher of Just Event Online and Oluwatoyin Lukman of Satcom Media have been released by the police after spending no fewer than 10 days in detention. The journalists were detained for allegedly inciting rifts among loyalists and officials of the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq.

A Kwara State-based pro-democracy group under the aegis of ‘Kwara Must Change’ has lambasted the Nigeria Police Force over the continued detention of some journalists in the state. The organisation alleged that the journalists were being detained on the orders of Ms. Monsurah Jumoke Gafar, a relation of the Attorney General of the Federation. The group in a statement on Monday noted that the detention of members of the press for doing their job amounts to an outright abuse of power, not only...

The Nigeria Police Force, Kwara State command, has detained two online journalists, Abdulrazaq Aiyelabegan Babatunde and Lukman Oluwatoyin Bolakale, since Monday on the orders of some officials of the Kwara State Government. The two journalists – Babatunde and Bolakale who are publishers of Just Events Online and Satcom Media respectively – have been under incarceration at the Kwara State Police Command September 11 over infighting within ranks of the state government, it was learnt.