The Integrity Youth Alliance has criticised the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria for blacklisting the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, describing the action as biased, misleading, and inconsistent with the legal responsibilities of the Nigeria Police Force.
In a statement issued on Friday, signed by Danjuma Lamido, Publicity Secretary of the Integrity Youth Alliance, the group said the IPI’s claim that the police under Egbetokun engaged in “systematic harassment of journalists” ignored the lawful processes guiding police investigations, especially in cases arising from formal criminal petitions.
The Alliance cited the case of Ms Azuka Ogujiuba, publisher of *Media Room Hub* and former *ThisDay* journalist, whose detention followed a petition accusing her of cyberbullying and defamation. According to the group, the police acted within their constitutional mandate to investigate any petition alleging criminal conduct, regardless of the profession of the accused.
The group stressed that press freedom, though guaranteed under Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution, is not without limits. It pointed to Sections 39(3) and 45(1), which allow restrictions in the interest of national security, public order, public morality, public health, and the protection of the rights and reputation of others.
“The fact that an individual is a journalist does not confer immunity from investigation when a petition is filed,” the statement noted, adding that journalists, like all citizens, are subject to the law.
The Integrity Youth Alliance also clarified that the Nigeria Police Force does not make laws such as the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, but is obligated to enforce them. Expecting the IGP to halt cybercrime-related investigations involving journalists, it said, would amount to interfering with the judicial process.
The group described the IPI’s decision to list the IGP in its so-called “Book of Infamy” as misguided and lacking understanding of Nigerian law. It accused the organisation of promoting misinformation rather than journalistic professionalism.
The Alliance urged IPI Nigeria to withdraw what it called a “biased blacklisting” and commit to fact-based advocacy, insisting that the police under Egbetokun had operated within constitutional and statutory limits.
