Civic Pulse Nigeria
Quarterly civic space report
Q4 2021
October to December 2021
Complete quarter. Generated 29 Sept 2026.
- Published records
- 7
- Change on Q3 2021
- +3
- States named
- 3
- Reporting organisations
- 6
7 civic space records were published for October to December 2021, against 4 in July to September 2021. Citizen Engagement and Policy Influence was the most frequently recorded category. 2 of these came from reports written at national level that name no state.
Records by category
- Citizen Engagement2
- Arrests & Detention2
- Legal & Regulatory2
- Government Discourse1
- Resource Access0
- Harassment0
Where records were located
- Lagos3
- Federal Capital Territory1
- Kaduna1
Plus 2 national-level records naming no state.
Who reported these incidents
- Rights monitors
- 2
- News outlets
- 5
- Official and court records
- 0
- CNN2
- Al Jazeera1
- Committee to Protect Journalists1
- Gatekeepers News1
- Human Rights Watch1
- WithinNigeria1
The records
- 13 Dec 2021·Federal Capital Territory·CPN-0113
Police Release Investigative Journalist Fisayo Soyombo
On 13 December 2021 Fisayo Soyombo, editor of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, was detained at the Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Abuja over an FIJ report alleging that police chiefs approved more than N1 billion for transit camp projects that remained largely undone. He was released on bail the same evening.
- Gatekeepers News: https://gatekeepersnews.com/2021/12/13/police-release-investigative-journalist-fisayo-soyombo/
- The Nigerian Voice: https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/304347/police-headquarters-questions-investigative-journalist-fisa.html
- The Street Journal: https://thestreetjournal.org/investigative-journalist-fisayo-soyombo-detained-over-report-exposing-high-level-police-corruption/
- 23 Nov 2021·National·CPN-0114
Lekki toll gate: Nigerian government rejects report on shooting as 'fake news'
At a press conference in Abuja on 23 November 2021, Information Minister Lai Mohammed rejected the Lagos judicial panel's findings on the Lekki toll gate shooting, calling the report riddled with errors and a triumph of fake news, and insisting that no massacre took place.
- CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/24/africa/nigeria-rejects-endsars-report-intl/index.html
- Channels Television: https://www.channelstv.com/2021/11/23/nobody-was-killed-during-lekki-endsars-protest-lai-mohammed-insists/
- P.M. News: https://pmnewsnigeria.com/2021/11/23/lai-mohammed-lists-10-gaps-in-endsars-panel-report-insists-no-massacre/
- 15 Nov 2021·Lagos·CPN-0115
Panel of inquiry finds Nigerian army culpable in Lekki 'massacre'
On 15 November 2021 the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality submitted its report on the Lekki toll gate shooting. It found that soldiers shot, injured and killed unarmed protesters on 20 October 2020 without provocation, that the army refused to let ambulances reach victims, and that the assault could in context be described as a massacre; it recorded 48 casualties including 11 killed.
- Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/16/panel-of-inquiry-finds-nigerian-army-culpable-in-lekki-massacre
- Vanguard: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/11/endsars-lagos-panel-report-indicts-army-police-over-lekki-shooting/
- Sahara Reporters: https://saharareporters.com/2021/11/15/full-report-lagos-endsars-judicial-panel-report-lekki-toll-gate-massacre
- 12 Nov 2021·National·CPN-0116
Media stakeholders call for review of amended NBC code
Media stakeholders called for a review of the amended sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code issued by the National Broadcasting Commission.
- 9 Nov 2021·Kaduna·CPN-0117
Nigerian journalist Luka Binniyat detained over complaint by Kaduna state official
Police in Barnawa, Kaduna State arrested freelance journalist Luka Binniyat, a contributor to The Epoch Times, on a complaint by the state commissioner for internal security Samuel Aruwan over a 29 October report. He was charged on 8 November under section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act, and the court denied him bail at his arraignment on 9 November 2021.
- Committee to Protect Journalists: https://cpj.org/2021/11/nigerian-journalist-luka-binniyat-detained-over-complaint-by-kaduna-state-official/
- 20 Oct 2021·Lagos·CPN-0118
Nigeria: Police fire tear gas in Lagos as protesters honoring Lekki toll gate shooting victims spill on to streets
On 20 October 2021 police fired tear gas at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos during a memorial car procession marking one year since the shooting of #EndSARS protesters. Protesters were arrested and later released; the Lagos State Commissioner of Police said those dispersed were hoodlums, not memorial protesters.
- CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/20/africa/nigeria-lekki-toll-gate-anniversary-protests-intl
- Channels Television: https://www.channelstv.com/2021/10/20/breaking-police-fire-tear-gas-at-lekki-tollgate-amid-memorial-procession/
- The ICIR: https://www.icirnigeria.org/police-arrest-release-22-endsars-memorial-protesters/
- Sahara Reporters: https://saharareporters.com/2021/10/20/why-we-fired-teargas-lekki-tollgate-during-endsars-memorial-protest-%E2%80%94-lagos-police
- 19 Oct 2021·Lagos·CPN-0119
Nigeria: a year on, no justice for #EndSARS crackdown
A year after the October 2020 #EndSARS protests, no one had been brought to justice for the security forces' crackdown on protesters in Lagos and elsewhere. Amnesty International reported that people considered backers or leaders of the movement had their bank accounts frozen or passports seized.
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.