Justice Bello Kawu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja delivered a landmark judgment on Wednesday, ordering the Nigeria Police Force to compensate Kasarahchi Aniagolu, a reporter with THE WHISTLER, with a total of N12 million. The award comprises N10 million in damages for the infringement of her fundamental rights and N2 million to cover the cost of litigation. The ruling followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit instituted by Aniagolu over her arrest and detention in February 2024.
According to a statement issued by THE WHISTLER's Managing Editor, Tajudeen Suleiman, on Friday, the court found that police officers unlawfully arrested, assaulted, and detained the journalist for approximately eight hours in Abuja. Justice Kawu declared that the police “subjected the applicant to inhuman and degrading treatment,” which contravenes Section 34(1)(a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. These provisions proscribe torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. The judge further held that Aniagolu's arrest and detention in the Guzape District of the Federal Capital Territory “infringed on the Applicant's right to personal liberty,” in breach of Section 35(1), which protects individuals from arbitrary deprivation of freedom.
Background: The February 2024 Arrest
The incident that gave rise to the lawsuit occurred on February 21, 2024. Aniagolu was covering a police operation against operators of illegal bureau de change businesses in Wuse Zone 4, Abuja. Suleiman recounted that despite identifying herself as a journalist, Aniagolu was allegedly assaulted by police officers. They also seized her phone and camera, and subsequently detained her at the Anti-Violence Crime Unit in Guzape, alongside dozens of traders who had been rounded up during the raid.
Aniagolu also accused the police of breaching her privacy by seizing her phone and deleting photographs stored on the device. The treatment she endured during her detention was described as inhumane. The legal action was initiated on October 25, 2024, with the Inspector General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force named as respondents. The suit originally sought N100 million in damages. Aniagolu's case was handled by Adekunle Kosoko of Seasons Law Firm, based in Abuja.
Press Freedom Under Threat in Nigeria
Aniagolu's ordeal is emblematic of the broader challenges facing journalists in Nigeria. Data from the Press Attack Tracker, a civic technology tool by the Centre for Journalism and Innovation Development (CJID) that documents press freedom violations in West Africa, shows that at least 412 attacks on journalists and media houses were recorded between 2023 and early 2026. Of this figure, 15 attacks were documented in Nigeria in 2026 alone. The country's press freedom ranking remains low, standing at 112th on the World Press Freedom Index with a score of 46.81, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In a separate development, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) released a report on Thursday highlighting persistent challenges facing journalism and civic participation in Nigeria despite democratic governance. The report recorded 245 incidents of civic space violations in 2025. State actors were responsible for 219 of these incidents, with the Nigerian police implicated in 118 cases.
Other Journalists Seeking Legal Redress
The court's decision in Aniagolu's favour is not the only instance of journalists turning to the courts. In January, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Friday Alefia, a Lagos-based journalist and publisher of Naija News Today, filed a N50 million fundamental rights enforcement suit against the FCT Police Command and a member of the House of Representatives, Chinedu Ogah. Alefia alleged that his arrest in Lagos, transfer to Abuja, and subsequent 86-day detention violated his constitutional rights. He took legal action after his release on bail.
In June, the ECOWAS Court of Justice awarded N10 million in damages to Jide Oyekunle, a journalist with Independent Newspapers. The court found Nigeria liable for violating his rights to freedom of expression, personal liberty, and human dignity. Oyekunle had been assaulted, arrested, and detained by police while covering the #EndBadGovernance protest in Abuja on August 1, 2024.
Earlier, in September 2018, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared that the detention of Bayelsa-based journalist Jones Abiri by the State Security Service for more than two years without trial was unconstitutional. The court awarded him N10 million in damages and ordered the government to pay.
These successive rulings show that the judiciary is prepared to hold security agencies accountable for violating fundamental rights. However, the persistent attacks on journalists and the slow pace of litigation mean that many cases go unaddressed. The WSCIJ report, which underscores the entrenched nature of these violations, adds weight to calls for comprehensive reform to protect media freedom and civic space in Nigeria.
