''P.M. News'' is a daily newspaper published in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, by the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL). The company also publishes the weekly ''TheNEWS'' magazine and ''Tempo'', a tabloid. ''The News'' was founded in 1993 by Bayo Onanuga, Babafemi Ojudu and other former staff from the ''African Concord'' who had resigned in protest over a request by M. K. O. Abiola, the publisher, to apologise to President

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August 1941) is a Nigerian statesman and military dictator who ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he orchestrated a coup d'état against his military and political arch-rival Muhammadu ...

over a critical story about the military regime. Ojudu was the first Managing Editor. After harassment by the Babangida regime, there was a brief period of press freedom under General

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (; (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military dictator and statesman who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist as military head of state from 1993 following a palace coup d'état until his death in 1998. Abacha's seiz ...

during which ''P.M. News'' was launched in August 1994 as a breezy afternoon paper strongly oriented towards news but also covering fashions, sports and entertainment. In the years that followed, ''P.M. News'' and '' TheNews'' were known for "guerrilla journalism". They were subject to constant interference by the authorities, arrests and closures. For example, in August 1996

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

reported that Editor-in-chief Bayo Onanuga was thought to be held by the State Security Service at their Lagos headquarters, and may have been ill-treated in custody. Babafemi Ojudu had been released on 13 August 1996 and had required hospital treatment as a result of ill-treatment. The two men may have been arrested due to publishing articles critical to the government. Onanuga fled from Nigeria in 1997 after hiding from state security forces for months. He returned home to resume work at ICNL in 1998, after the sudden death of Abacha and the start of the transition to democracy.

References

1994 establishments in Nigeria Companies based in Lagos Daily newspapers published in Nigeria Newspapers published in Lagos Newspapers established in 1994 {{Nigeria-newspaper-stub