Peoples Gazette is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja. It launched in 2020. The online medium is notable for its investigative journalism, among other fields.
Launching
Peoples Gazette was launched in 2020 by Samuel Ogundipe, an investigative journalist who was arrested and detained by the Nigerian government for reporting undesirable stories about the Muhammadu Buhari administration. He left Premium Times in 2020 to start his own paper. In one week of its launch, it reported groundbreaking exclusive reports that became issues of national discussion.
Attacks and censorship
On 26 January 2021, the newspaper had its website blocked across all telecommunication networks in Nigeria; this blockage, Peoples Gazette stated, was based on a directive from the Nigerian government as a result of an unfavourable publication it wrote indicting the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari, of delegating his son to take over the duty of his office even without security clearance to do so.
A forensic analysis conducted by Qurium Media Foundation in Sweden indicated that users in Nigeria were unable to access the domain of the newspaper because access to it was tampered with by telecommunication networks.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders condemned the clampdown on Peoples Gazette describing it as an obstruction of citizens' right to information and press freedom.
On 10 January 2022, Peoples Gazette reported it had been raided by National Intelligence Agency forces demanding Peoples Gazette reveal the identities of certain government officers who had leaked information related to Ahmed Rufai Abubakar to the newspaper.
Major breaking reports
Following the mass protest across Nigeria against police brutality in October 2020, named EndSARS, which led to the Lekki Massacre, the paper was the first to report the disbandment of the brutal police unit known as SARS, four hours before the announcement was officially made. The paper also exclusively reported the decision of the Nigerian government to clamp down on individuals who participated in the EndSARS protest by freezing their bank accounts through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In March 2021, the paper reported exclusively on the move by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress, Bola Tinubu, by writing to the Code of Conduct Bureau to demand for his asset declaration file which he submitted as governor of Lagos state. The report generated a nationwide discussion on attempts by some individuals within the Nigerian Presidency to entrap Bola Tinubu in other to ensure he doesn't contest for the 2023 presidential election.
The platform also broke the story of the Code of Conduct investigation of the sacked Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Ibrahim Magu
In April 2021, the platform published video, audio and transcripts of the preaching of Nigeria's Minister for Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami, also known as Isa Pantami. In the publication series, the minister pronounced his support for terrorist organisations such as Taliban and Al-Qaeda saying “Oh God, give victory to the Taliban and to al-Qaeda". Pantami called for all Muslim brothers in the country to embark on jihad saying "jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria" while expressing joy when unbelievers are killed saying “We are all happy whenever unbelievers are being killed, but the Sharia does not allow us to kill them without a reason.”
The publications birthed the call by thousands of Nigerians on Twitter for the dismissal or resignation of the minister.
The platform reported exclusively the robbery by armed individuals at the presidential villa in Aso Rock where the residences of the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, as well as that of the Administration Officer in the Presidency, Abubakar Maikano, were robbed. The report was later confirmed by the spokesman to President Buhari, Garba Shehu.
The Gazette was the first media platform to report the death of the founder of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet T. B. Joshua on Saturday 5 June 2021. The report cited family sources who disclosed that the referend preacher died after the weekend service. The report was initially dismissed by a close ally of the pastor and former minister for aviation Femi Fani-Kayode, who disclosed that he called the preacher's daughter and she was unaware. Fani-Kayode would later walk back his dismissal when he confirmed the story five hours later.