Nigeria is ruled by a “hybrid authoritarian regime” with no meaningful checks on executive power and an endemic culture of corruption, clientelism, and impunity, while the country remains mired in a degenerating, multidimensional insecurity and maladministration crisis, according to the Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) Tyranny Tracker, a global democracy index which monitors political freedom across countries and territories in the world.
“Hybrid authoritarian regime” is one of the three regime types used by the New York-based HRF in its Tyranny Tracker index, the others being “Democracy” and “Fully Authoritarian regime.” The terminology of “hybrid authoritarian regime” and “fully authoritarian regime” was developed by HRF to capture its understanding of non-democratic regimes.
According to HRF, “Hybrid authoritarian political systems create uneven electoral competition, limit dissent, and constrain institutional autonomy. While they may hold elections and allow opposition parties to participate, the electoral process is heavily skewed in favor of the governing authority, making opposition victories unlikely. Freedom of dissent is restricted, with independent media, civil society, and critics facing retaliation such as legal harassment or direct physical coercion. Institutions may retain partial independence but are frequently manipulated or co-opted to serve the governing authority’s interests. Maintaining a façade of democratic practices, governing authorities in these systems undermine core principles of accountability, fairness, and genuine political opposition while consolidating power.”
In its assessment of Nigeria in the Tyranny Tracker, HRF noted that independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are seriously and unfairly hindered in their ability to openly criticize or challenge the regime.
It insisted that despite Nigeria’s formally pluralistic media and civic landscape, authorities have increasingly relied on intimidation, censorship, arbitrary detention, and violence to suppress dissenting voices while protests have been systematically repressed, and journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens have faced retaliation for criticizing government policies or opposing the regime.
HRF said: “The regime has seriously intimidated or obstructed the work of independent, dissenting media, civil society leaders, organizations, or members of the general public. While the private media landscape is rich and diverse, including hundreds of broadcasters and 13 major daily newspapers where a plurality of views are expressed, both federal and state authorities have intimidated independent journalists and news outlets with physical violence, arbitrary detentions, regulatory censorship, and lawfare.”
Citing numerous instances of attacks on 56 journalists, including through the use of the Cybercrime Act to prosecute at least 25 journalists for critical reporting, it insisted that “Federal and state authorities have seriously intimidated ordinary citizens in retaliation for public criticism,” adding that the “regime has obstructed the work of civil society leaders and organizations.”
HRF said “both federal and state authorities have systematically, seriously, and unfairly suppressed dissenting protests,” citing some examples, including an instance in August 2024 when the “Police violently suppressed nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, with tear gas, water cannon, and live bullets, resulting in at least 24 casualties” and “security forces detained nearly two hundred protesters, including minors, as well as citizens who had produced, sold, distributed, or waved Russian flags during the protests; the charging of 76 protesters in Kano with sedition, and 119 others in Abuja with treason;” and another instance in October 2024, when the Police again “violently dispersed a peaceful gathering commemorating the 2020 Lekki Tollgate killings of protesters, beating and detaining over 20 people.”
The Tyranny Tracker stated that non-state actors have also contributed to this pattern of repression, noting that “Non-state actors, with ties to the regime, have contributed to seriously and unfairly repressing dissenting protests. Violent gangs mobilized by ruling politicians, and commonly referred to as political thugs, seriously suppress unsanctioned dissenting protests with little or no response from security forces.”
The report cited many examples, including in December 2025, when thugs attacked women protesting kidnappings in front of the Kwara Government House; in June 2025, when armed thugs in Akure, Ondo State, attacked and disrupted a peaceful protest organized by the #TakeItBack movement against economic hardship and unemployment; during the August 2024 #EndBadGovernanceProtests, when violent groups of thugs attacked protesters and ordinary citizens, and vandalized, looted, and destroyed public and private property; and in November 2023, when armed hoodlums in Owerri, Imo State, attacked a Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) gathering planning a strike to protest the State’s treatment of workers.
It said the regime has also seriously and unfairly censored dissenting speech, again citing several instances of arbitrary arrest and detention of activists and a lecturer, as well as the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) prohibition in April 2025 of broadcasters from playing the song “Tell Your Papa” by artist Eedris Abdulkareem, which criticizes President Tinubu in the light of the hardships, insecurity, and hunger faced by the population, as the NBC labeled the song as inappropriate and containing objectionable content.
The HRF also reported that institutions largely fail to serve as independent checks on the regime, claiming that courts fail to check the regime’s attempts to skew the electoral process in its favor and repress criticism or retaliate against opposition to its widely publicized policies, adding that the “regime has undermined institutional independence, leading to cases challenging it being frequently dismissed.”
Besides, it said, “Judicial, legislative, or executive institutions often fail to hold regime officials accountable. Systematic reforms have abolished or seriously weakened the independence and effectiveness of judicial and legislative institutions.”
According to the Foundation, “Courts frequently and unfairly fail to check, or enable the regime’s attempts to repress criticism or retaliate against those who express open opposition to its most prominent, widely publicized policies,” adding that despite a March 2022 ruling of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which outlawed the government’s use of the criminal offense of “cyberstalking” against dissenters, judges continue to arraign regime critics on such charges.
It noted that in “response to a longstanding culture of impunity for Nigerian officials accused of human rights abuses, individuals and organizations have bypassed national courts and filed their complaints directly with the supranational ECOWAS Court of Justice,” citing several instances where the ECOWAS Court has ruled against the Nigerian government and ordered compensation for the plaintiffs, but the Nigerian authorities have neither complied nor enforced the rulings.”
The report noted that judicial, legislative, or executive institutions frequently and unfairly fail to hold regime officials accountable, insisting that the “regime’s institutional capture of all branches of government and key oversight institutions has effectively negated constitutional separations of powers and democratic checks and balances.”
As a result, it said, there is no meaningful check on the power of President Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, who is also the Minister of Justice, “has not prosecuted a single member of the security forces involved in the violent suppression of August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, with the police dismissing any responsibility for the reported killings of at least 24 people.”
Describing the situation as “part of a longstanding pattern of official impunity that the Tinubu regime is extending,” it stressed that both the Legislature and the Judiciary failed to hold President Tinubu “accountable for his controversial March 2025 imposition of a state of emergency in Rivers state, a measure issued on constitutionally questionable grounds, which involved the 6-month suspension of the Rivers State governor and state legislature and the appointment of a military administrator to oversee the state’s affairs.”
The HRF accused the Tinubu Administration of systematically subjecting judicial institutions to reforms that abolish or seriously weaken their independence or operational effectiveness, noting that the “lack of accountability and transparency over judicial appointments has degenerated into an increasing trend of dynastic nepotism, with Chief Justices and senior judicial officers facilitating the appointment of their children or other family members on the bench.”
The HRF, a non-partisan non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that liberal democracy and basic human rights are promoted and preserved worldwide, uses a methodology consisting of a checklist of 45 indicators covering issues of electoral competition, freedom of dissent, and institutional accountability.
HRF’s global in-house Tyranny Tracker Research Team classifies countries as democratic, hybrid authoritarian, or fully authoritarian.
The Tyranny Tracker aims to educate journalists, policymakers, academics, civil society, and the wider public about the abusive nature of authoritarian regimes and advances research and advocacy work in the promotion of democracy.
HRF has internally been tracking authoritarianism on a global scale since 2010 and has developed a unique index that rigorously measures authoritarianism, while also being accessible and transparent.
The Tyranny Tracker uses an innovative qualitative methodology, which relies on a set of thresholds that need to be met for a country to be classified as a democracy, hybrid authoritarian, or fully authoritarian.
The Tyranny Tracker Research Team consists of several Research Fellows, who work together with HRF’s regional experts to produce country profiles. Research Fellows are experienced professionals with relevant language skills and formal education in political science or international relations, and many are from the regions they research.
The Tyranny Tracker classifications are updated annually, allowing the Tracker to monitor regime changes over time and to highlight global trends.
