Samira Sabou

Samira Sabou (born 1981) is a Nigerien journalist and blogger. The founder of the economic and social development website Mides-Niger and the president of the Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship, in addition to running her own popular Facebook page, Sabou has been arrested and prosecuted by consecutive Nigerien governments for her reporting, which frequently covers state corruption.

Personal life Sabou was born in Niamey, the Nigerien capital, in 1981, but spent part of her childhood in Montreal, Canada, where she was educated. She returned to Niger in the early 2010s, where she studied at the Institut de Formation aux Techniques de l'Information et de la Communication (IFTIC) in Niamey, graduating first in her class.

She is married to Abdoulaker Nouhou.

Journalism career

Le Sahel and Le Sahel Dimanche Following her graduation, Sabou began working as a journalist for the Office National d'Édition et de Press (ONEP), a state-run press agency that owned two of the largest newspapers in Niger, Le Sahel and Le Sahel Dimanche. She was fired from ONEP in 2017, four days after posting a photo on social media in which she mimicked a pose by the then-President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou for the Australian newspaper The Australian, in which he stood leaning on two chairs with his legs crossed. ONEP publicly disputed Sabou's claim that she had been fired for parodying the president, stating they requested the photo be deleted solely because it was taken in ONEP's offices, and instead claimed her dismissal stemmed from "inappropriate behaviour while she was in the field". Many social media users publicly supported Sabou by sharing photos of them copying Issoufou's pose.

Facebook page, Mides-Niger and ABCA Following her dismissal, Sabou turned her personal Facebook page into a newsfeed where she reported on local news, in addition to providing factchecks on government reports and actions. As of October 2023, Sabou's Facebook page has 293, 000 followers.

Sabou also established Mides-Niger , in which she provides information and reporting on economic and social development in Niger. Through ACBA, Sabou has also campaigned for freedom of expression and against child marriage. Mahamadou subsequently filed a criminal complaint against Sabou for defamation, stating he had been unfairly implicated in the case. Her lawyer, Ould Salem Saïd, concurrently filed a criminal complaint that Sabou had been kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by state security forces.

On 11 October 2023, Sabou was provisionally released after being charged with "supplying intelligence to a foreign power" and "dissemination of data likely to disturb public order".