Outrage as Gov Bago Orders Shutdown of Radio Station

Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State has sparked widespread outrage by ordering the shutdown of Badeggi FM, a private radio station in Minna.

He issued the directive during an expanded APC caucus meeting at the Government House.

The Governor instructed both the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner for Homeland Security, Brigadier General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (rtd), to seal the station.

He also demanded the revocation of the station’s license and profiling of its owner.

According to Bologi Ibrahim, the Governor’s spokesperson, the Governor accused the radio station of inciting unrest and promoting violence against the state government.

However, Badeggi FM’s Director of Operations, Abubakar Shuaib, rejected the accusations.

He urged the Governor to channel complaints through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), which monitors broadcast content in Nigeria.

“The NBC has records of our programs,” Shuaib said. “If there’s any wrongdoing, they should investigate. We do not threaten public peace. We simply hold leaders accountable.”

This move isn’t the first time the government has clashed with journalists. In November 2023, the Commissioner for Homeland Security allegedly assaulted a Voice of America reporter, Mustapha Nasiru Batsari, inside the Government House. The reporter had tried to get official comments about a deadly farmers-herders conflict.

In another incident in January 2025, DSS officials detained Yakubu Mustapha Bina, a correspondent for People’s Daily, over a report on banditry. The police later held him for sharing a critical article about a government aide.

Several organizations, including Amnesty International and civil society groups, condemned the latest shutdown.

Amnesty described it as a direct attack on media freedom and called the Governor’s action “lawless” and “repressive.”

“While bandits kill and displace citizens, the government is targeting journalists,” the group said.

Minna-based Accountability Ambassadors also criticized the action. The group’s speaker, Muhammad Alfa Muhammad, said the closure bypassed due process and violated the 1999 Constitution.

“Media houses can only be sanctioned by the NBC,” he said. “Ordering a shutdown shows executive overreach and suppresses free speech.”

A close ally of the Governor, Yahaya Adam Idrees, also urged a review of the order.

“The Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. Media freedom must not be compromised,” he wrote on Facebook.

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