{"id":179052,"date":"2025-09-16T08:40:01","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T07:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger"},"modified":"2025-09-16T09:43:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T08:43:40","slug":"gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","title":{"rendered":"Gov Bago&#8217;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit their sermons for approval before relaying to their congregation.<\/p>\n<p>Idam said Bago\u2019s directive is an attempt to gag free speech and police religion in the state.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement he signed, the activist lawyer said the governor\u2019s directive raised concerns considering the level of insecurity in Niger State.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cThe Governor of Niger State asking clerics to submit their sermons for approval before they are preached to the congregation is the highest attempt, in recent times, to gag free speech and by extension police religion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo think that a Governor in a state like Niger, ravaged by insecurity, is not preoccupied with intelligence gathering and strategic efforts on reclaiming all local governments under siege by bandits within the state\u2014 is a big concern about what the priorities of some Nigerian leaders are.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA client of mine who hails from Chiroro Local Government in Niger State has always expressed how helpless residents of his local government have become. According to him, they almost pay rent to bandits just to spare their lives given that the state government has become incapacitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSadly, the governor has confirmed that he is busy with his mobile radio held to his ear, listening and monitoring the content of every sermon preached by a preacher in the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe governor should pay more attention to intelligence gathering regarding security in the state other than sermons preached in religious homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit their sermons for approval before relaying to their congregation. Idam said Bago\u2019s directive is an attempt to gag free speech and police religion in the state. In a statement he signed, the activist lawyer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":179051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[18743,8263,254],"class_list":["post-179052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-submit-sermon-for-approval","tag-bago","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gov Bago&#039;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gov Bago&#039;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gov Bago&#8217;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\"},\"wordCount\":275,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"'Submit sermon for approval\",\"Bago\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\",\"name\":\"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gov Bago&#8217;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger - Nigeria","description":"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger","og_description":"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Gov Bago&#8217;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger","datePublished":"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger"},"wordCount":275,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg","keywords":["'Submit sermon for approval","Bago","Nigeria"],"articleSection":["all news","Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger","name":"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-16T07:40:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-16T08:43:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Activist lawyer, Maduabuchi Idam, has tackled Governor Umar Bago for saying preachers in the state must first submit the ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/sm_1757999798.322941.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Gov Bago's Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-bagos-attempt-to-gag-free-speech-in-niger#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gov Bago&#8217;s Attempt to Gag Free Speech in Niger"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}