Civic Pulse Nigeria
Quarterly civic space report
Q2 2020
April to June 2020
Complete quarter. Generated 29 Sept 2026.
- Published records
- 2
- Change on Q1 2020
- +1
- States named
- 2
- Reporting organisations
- 2
2 civic space records were published for April to June 2020, against 1 in January to March 2020. Arrests and Detention was the most frequently recorded category.
Records by category
- Arrests & Detention2
- Citizen Engagement0
- Government Discourse0
- Resource Access0
- Legal & Regulatory0
- Harassment0
Where records were located
- Akwa Ibom1
- Kaduna1
Who reported these incidents
- Rights monitors
- 1
- News outlets
- 1
- Official and court records
- 0
- Committee to Protect Journalists1
- Sahara Reporters1
The records
- 28 Apr 2020·Kaduna·CPN-0151
Activist Arrested In Kaduna For 'Insulting Prophet Muhammad' On Facebook
On 28 April 2020 police arrested Mubarak Bala, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, at his home in Kaduna State over Facebook posts that a group of lawyers had petitioned the Kano State Police Commissioner about as offensive to Muslims. He was transferred to Kano and held without access to his family or lawyer.
- 27 Apr 2020·Akwa Ibom·CPN-0152
Nigerian journalist Kufre Carter detained for 1 month, charged with defamation and conspiracy
On 27 April 2020 the Department of State Services arrested Kufre Carter, a presenter with XL 106.9 FM, in Uyo when he answered a summons. He was accused of circulating an audio recording criticising Akwa Ibom State Health Commissioner Dominic Ukpong's handling of COVID-19, was charged with conspiracy and defamation, and was held for a month before his release on bail.
- Committee to Protect Journalists: https://cpj.org/2020/05/nigerian-journalist-kufre-carter-detained-for-1-month-charged-with-defamation-and-conspiracy/
- TheCable: https://www.thecable.ng/dss-arrests-journalist-accused-of-defaming-akwa-ibom-commissioner/
- Media Foundation for West Africa: https://www.mfwa.org/journalist-arrested-and-detained-over-facebook-post-released/
How this report was compiled
Every record in this report is compiled by hand from reports published by named rights monitors, news outlets and official bodies, and links to the source it draws on. Each record is dated to the incident where its source gives that date, and otherwise to the date the source was published. The figures show what has been recorded, not the full extent of what has happened: incidents that were never reported do not appear, and a state with few records is not necessarily a state where little took place.