Journalists covering Kwara North say they are operating under a cloud of intimidation after the Emir of Lafiagi, Alhaji Muhammad Kudu Kawu, summoned media practitioners and warned them to stop reporting on banditry and terrorist attacks in the region.
The summons, which sources said took place at the emirate palace, included an explicit threat of arrest if reporting continued, and was said by palace insiders to have been issued on the supposed instructions of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
If those accounts are accurate the move marks a dangerous escalation in the effort to control the narrative about insecurity in Kwara North.
Reporters in Lafiagi and Patigi have documented a pattern of kidnappings, killings and ransom demands which residents say has left communities traumatised and local institutions paralysed.
The region has seen repeated incidents in recent months that prompted street protests and the burning of government property.
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A senior source inside the emirate told SaharaReporters that the Emir accused local media of embarrassing the governor and warned that further reporting would attract punitive action.
That allegation, if true, raises acute questions about the balance between traditional authority and the constitutional right to a free press.
It also places the governor at the centre of a controversy he has denied in public statements of support for the emirate.
The intimidation of reporters is not an isolated incident. Earlier this week the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Kwara invited and detained a popular blogger known as Abdulsamad Oloyin or Yolo after a businesswoman accused him of alleging she acted as an informant to bandits.
The complainant demanded millions in damages and asked that the blogger issue a video apology.
Rights groups say the episode illustrates how libel and defamation laws are being used in some cases to chill legitimate reporting on insecurity.
Local journalists and civil society activists warn that silencing independent reporting will compound the security crisis by creating an information vacuum.
That vacuum is already fuelling rumours and vigilantism. In June, angry youths burned the office of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and attacked parts of the Emir’s palace in Lafiagi after a series of abductions.
Such community-led eruptions are a symptom of eroded trust in formal security arrangements.
For governors and traditional rulers the pressure is acute. They face popular anger for perceived lapses in security while relying on federal security agencies to contain well armed and mobile criminal gangs.
But resorting to threats against journalists will not restore public confidence. It will only deepen suspicion and further obstruct independent verification of incidents that demand public scrutiny and policy response.
Legal experts note that while defamation is actionable, arrest or detention for publishing on matters of public interest sets a perilous precedent.
Democracy depends on a robust press that can document failure and force accountability. When chiefs and public officials move to silence the press the result is less safety not more, because fewer eyes on the ground mean delayed or inadequate responses to violence.
What needs to happen now is plain. Authorities must guarantee the safety of journalists and withdraw any veiled or explicit threats.
Security agencies should prioritise protecting communities and investigating the bandit networks operating in Kwara North.
State and federal governments must also address the root causes of the violence including youth unemployment, porous borders and the flow of small arms.
Above all there must be transparency about security operations and compensation where state action has failed.
This investigation will continue. We have contacted the Office of the Emir of Lafiagi, the Kwara State Government and the NSCDC for comment and await their responses.