A postgraduate student of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), has been arrested by police in Niger State for allegedly criticising Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago on Facebook.
Diaspora Digital Media gathered that the student, identified as Abubakar Isah Mokwa, was reportedly picked up late Thursday night at his off-campus residence in Lapai by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force.
Mokwa, who studies Agricultural Economics and Extension, had earlier shared posts on Facebook faulting the governor’s leadership style.
Confirming the arrest, the state police spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said Mokwa’s detention followed a criminal complaint of cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and other cyber-related offences.
According to Abiodun, “The Niger State Police Command received a complaint against one Abubakar Isah Mokwa, 29, of Mokwa Local Government and a postgraduate student of IBB University Lapai.
He was arrested on October 23, 2025, at about 11 p.m. by the Lapai Division and later transferred to the State Command Headquarters, Minna, for investigation.
He is currently in custody pending further updates.”
Pattern of Repression
This is not the first time Governor Bago’s administration has come under fire for what critics call an attempt to silence dissent.
In August 2025, the Niger government suspended Badegi 90.1 FM, an independent radio station in Minna, over alleged “anti-government broadcasts.”
The International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria has since condemned what it described as “a troubling pattern of media repression” under the current administration.
IPI recalled that in January 2025, Yakubu Mustapha, state correspondent of Peoples Daily and chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents’ Chapel, was detained for three days after allegedly publishing an article critical of the governor’s media adviser.
Similarly, in November 2023, Mustapha Nasiru Batsari, correspondent of the Voice of America (VOA), was reportedly assaulted by a state commissioner while seeking an interview about a violent farmers’ clash in Beji, Bosso Local Government Area.
The repeated arrests and intimidation of journalists and social media users have sparked widespread condemnation across Niger State and beyond.
Civil society groups and student associations are demanding Mokwa’s immediate release and an end to the alleged abuse of power by state authorities.