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The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) has approached the Court of Appeal, asking for an "extension of time" to challenge a landmark judgment that ordered the government to investigate and prosecute the killers of journalists, reports ITREALMS.
This 22-month delay centers on a motion filed on December 23, 2025, by Mr. A.B. Mohammed on behalf of the AGF, which seeks to bypass the standard legal window for appeals. Under Section 24(2)(a) of the Court of Appeal Act, the government had exactly three months to appeal the February 16, 2024, judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo.
Instead, the government remained silent for nearly two years, only now claiming it is "desirous to appeal" due to discovered "errors" in the ruling.
The original legal battle, known as the MRA Suit, was initiated by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) to seek justice for the dead.
Represented by human rights lawyer Mrs. Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga, MRA argued that the Federal Government’s failure to investigate the murders of media practitioners violated the fundamental right to life and freedom of expression.
The suit brought to the fore the names of legendary journalists whose murders remain "cold cases," including Dele Giwa, who was killed by a parcel bomb in 1986; Bolade Fasasi, shot in 1998; Edward Olalekan Ayo-Ojo in 1999; Omololu Falobi in 2006; Godwin Agbroko in 2006; Abayomi Ogundeji in 2008; and Edo Sule-Ugbagwu in 2010.
Justice Ekwo’s 2024 judgment was a watershed moment for Nigerian media, issuing eight declaratory reliefs that explicitly ordered the Federal Government to take active steps to punish perpetrators of all attacks on journalists, implement strategies to prevent future attacks, and train law enforcement, military, and intelligence officials on safety standards for media practitioners. The judge famously noted that journalism is a "constitutional profession" and ruled that MRA had established its case with "credible evidence."
In a recent affidavit supporting the motion for an extension, Mr. Kelechi Ohaeri of the Federal Ministry of Justice claimed the grounds for the appeal are "recondite," a term meaning complex or little-known. However, the filing notably fails to explain why the AGF waited nearly two years to exercise this constitutional right.
The Government now maintains that the extension is necessary in the "interest of justice," despite having ignored the court-ordered deadline since mid-2024.
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