The Nation Newspaper

Tag: journalist

  • ‘They thought I was a spy’: Journalist’s close shave with death’

    ‘They thought I was a spy’: Journalist’s close shave with death’

    On the fifth anniversary of #EndSARS, photo-journalist Isaac Jimoh Ayodele reflects on the most terrifying moment of his career. Beaten unconscious and seconds away from being set on fire, Ayodele says only his press ID card — and what he calls divine intervention — saved him from the mob’s fury. He shares his experience on that fateful day with Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI.

    Five years have passed since the #EndSARS protests swept across Nigeria. Still, for The Nation’s photo-journalist Isaac Jimoh Ayodele, the memories of that day in October 2020 remain engraved in his mind — the shouts, the blows, the smell of petrol, and the narrow escape from a mob who were seconds away from burning him alive.

    “When I close my eyes, I still hear someone shouting, ‘Bring the pure water bottle!’” he says. “It took me a few seconds to realise they meant petrol, and that I was on the verge of being killed.”

    A morning like any other

    The morning of October 20, 2020 began like any other. Ayodele, in his sixties, woke before dawn in Mafoluku-Oshodi, the area of Lagos where he lives, in a positive mood.

    “I said my morning prayers, went to the kitchen, and made tea,” he recalls. “After the first cup, I called a colleague who works with the Daily Trust newspaper to ask if there was any breaking news. He said, ‘Nothing yet.’”

    Then, around noon, he heard three sharp gunshots — the kind that don’t get mistaken for anything else. “I said to myself, yes, it’s happening in my area. I quickly put on my clothes, packed my small camera bag, and got ready to leave.”

    His wife and daughter begged him not to go. “They said, ‘Please, don’t go out today.’ Maybe they had a premonition of what was going to take place that fateful day,” Ayodele says softly. “I was irritated by that plea, and I told them, it’s like you don’t know the nature of my job.”

    As a photojournalist, the only thing on his mind was capturing the story of the ongoing #EndSARS protest for posterity. He never expected to become part of the story. However, all that changed soon.

    At the door, he suddenly remembered the ID card he’d left on the table. “That small card later became my saving grace,” he says.

    Into the fire

    Outside, he noticed black smoke billowing from the direction of Makinde Police Station, where angry youths were confronting officers. He ran towards the scene.

    “The air was thick with suspense and expectation. I realised that bringing out my big camera could attract attention, so I used my phone instead.”

    He began taking quick shots of the burning station amidst the shouting youths and the chaos that had overtaken the street. When the tension became unbearable, he moved to an adjoining street and began sending the photos to his newsroom.

    “I was about 10 metres away, still uploading pictures, when I heard someone shout (in Yoruba), ‘Spy! Police! He’s one of them!’”

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    Before he could react, about a dozen young men descended on him. “They said I was a police officer in plain clothes, and that I was filming for the government. They asked for my phone. I tried to explain, but they had already started hitting me.”

    He was kicked to the ground, his cap flying off. “A hard object hit my head, and everything went dark for a while,” he says. “When I opened my eyes, I was on the ground, with people shouting, punching, and stepping on me.”

    ‘Bring the pure water!’

    In the confusion, someone shouted for “pure water.” Ayodele did not comprehend what it was meant for — until the smell hit him.

    “That’s when I realised it was petrol,” he says. “They were going to burn me alive.”

    At that moment, he forced out a desperate plea in English and Yoruba: “I am a journalist! I am not a policeman!”

    A man in the crowd asked for his ID card. With trembling hands, Ayodele fished it out of his pocket. “He looked at it and said, ‘He’s telling the truth. He’s a journalist.’ Then they all shouted, ‘Leave him! Leave him!’”

    One of them told him to run away. “As I tried to stand up, he suddenly screamed, ‘Ole! Ole!’ (thief! thief!)! Again I froze,” Ayodele says. “If I had run, others would have chased me, and I may still end up being killed.

    “So I just walked away slowly, praying under my breath. I was experiencing an admixture of sadness and joy at that moment. The only thought at the back of my mind was to get away from that environment. Somehow, I was feeling like someone who had just woken up from a bad dream.”

    The cap that almost killed him

    Safe at home later that evening, Ayodele examined his cap—and discovered that its insignia indeed resembled that of the Nigeria Police Force. “Mistaken identity nearly cost me my life,” he mused.

    In the process, he had lost his phone, and his camera was badly damaged. His jaw was swollen, and he could hardly open his mouth. “I tried to drink my leftover tea,” he says with a pained smile, “but I couldn’t. The pain was terrible.”

    Funnily enough, even while he was lying on the ground and being beaten, a thought flashed through his mind: who would document his own demise? He remembered his wife’s pleas, his daughter’s instincts, and—he says—divine intervention spared him.

    Afraid that he might be recognised on the street, he changed his clothes before heading to the hospital. “Even in pain, I kept thinking that someone might mistake me for a policeman again.”

    The day the nation bled

    Isaac’s brush with death did not take place in a vacuum. It unfolded within the larger drama of #EndSARS, a youth-led movement against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) — a police unit long accused of torture, extortion, and extrajudicial killings.

    Across Lagos — and across the country — the #EndSARS protests that day reached their most violent point. What began as a peaceful protest had spiralled into chaos.

    The government had announced SARS’ dissolution a week earlier, but protesters doubted the promise. They demanded not just reform, but justice and accountability for years of abuse.

    That night, soldiers reportedly opened fire on demonstrators at Lekki Toll Gate, an event Amnesty International later described as a “massacre”.

    By the next morning, parts of Lagos were burning. Mobs turned on perceived enemies — including journalists. For many reporters, photographers, and citizen journalists, that day remains etched as both a professional and personal trauma.

    Five years on

    Today, Ayodele still carries the scars — not just the physical ones on his head, but also the psychological trauma that haunts him from time to time.

    “When I hear loud noises, I still flinch,” he admits. “I don’t wear caps with any logo anymore. I’ve learned that in Nigeria, even a piece of clothing can decide your fate.”

    He still believes journalism is a calling worth the risk, but his perspective has changed. “When I cover stories now, I think about my family first,” he says. “My wife’s voice that morning still rings in my head: ‘Don’t go out today’. But duty is duty.”

    For him, the fifth anniversary of #EndSARS isn’t only about remembering those killed or injured — it’s about survival, about the fragile line between witness and victim.

    “That day showed me how thin the line is between truth-telling and dying for it,” he says quietly. “If not for that ID card — and for God — I wouldn’t be here telling you this story.”

    The weight of memory

    As Nigeria reflects on #EndSARS five years later, Ayodele’s experience highlights how the chaos of that period consumed even those who attempted to document the story.

    His survival feels both miraculous and symbolic — a reminder that behind every photograph and headline were real people risking everything to make sure the world saw what was happening.

    He pauses when asked what he took away from that day. After a long silence, he says, “I learned that the truth can put you in danger. But silence can kill faster.”

    Then, as if to reassure himself, he adds, “Five years on, I thank God that I am still alive to tell it.”

  • Journalist’s arrest sparks outrage

    Journalist’s arrest sparks outrage

    The arrest and detention of Media Room Hub publisher, Azuka Ogujiuba, by the Nigerian Police Force has ignited widespread outrage among journalists, human rights advocates and press freedom groups.

     Ogujiuba, a veteran journalist and former ThisDay reporter, was invited by officers of the Nigerian Police Force at the Asokoro Division Headquarters in Abuja on August 6.

    She honored the invitation, flying in with her legal representative.

    However, after being tracked for days, she was eventually picked up and allegedly whisked away without a warrant, “like a criminal,” and unlawfully detained for three days.

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     According to Ogujiuba, who said she had been invited by the office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), alleged to have been maltreated.

     Police authorities said her arrest followed a petition filed by businessman Adewale Oladapo, popularly known as Biggie, who accused her of cyberbullying and defamation.

    But Ogujiuba insisted that the real reason for her ordeal was her outlet’s publication of a court injunction in an ongoing multi-billion-naira land dispute in Lagos, a ruling that did not favor Oladapo.

  • Who is a journalist?

    Who is a journalist?

    It didn’t begin today, this age-old debate about who a journalist is, or who a journalist ought to be. And it won’t end today either.

    When I began my journey in journalism some two and a half decades ago, the prevailing assumption was clear: a journalist ought to hold a degree or diploma in journalism or mass communication. Such qualifications were believed to provide the essential toolkit such as news writing, media ethics, media law, interviewing techniques, and the foundations of investigative reporting. I studied these very subjects, first as a student of journalism and later of mass communication. But, over the years, one question has lingered, quietly pressing against the walls of that assumption: Can’t these skills also be learnt on the job, in the crucible of real-world reporting, or through rigorous in-house training?

    Like the tide, this debate rises and recedes with each generation of thinkers, truth-seekers and even morons. When the argument is raised, it often leans on the scaffolding of other professions: the physician cannot prescribe without a degree in medicine; the lawyer cannot plead a case without having first walked the disciplined halls of a law school.

    Indeed, these comparisons seem persuasive on the surface. The law and medicine are disciplines anchored in codified knowledge, often with life-and-death consequences. In such domains, formal training is non-negotiable, a matter of public trust and safety.

    But even these professions were not always so rigorously defined. In early America, physicians were as likely to be barbers or apothecaries as they were to be university graduates. It wasn’t until ambitious young men sailed to Europe, to study under the great anatomical minds of Vienna or Paris, that the American understanding of what it meant to be a “doctor” began to evolve.

    Likewise, the legal profession in its infancy was shaped more by apprenticeship and practice than parchment. And let us not forget that in 19th-century America, Coca-Cola was once marketed as a medicinal tonic, a reminder that even the definitions of science and legitimacy are subject to time’s revision.

    Journalism, however, is a different beast, wild, untamed, and resistant to enclosure. Nowhere in the world has the effort to constrain the profession strictly within the bounds of formal academic training fully succeeded. No country has managed to decree, with any lasting enforcement, that only those bearing a degree in journalism or mass communication may bear the title “journalist.” And why? Because journalism, at its heart, is not a profession carved neatly into syllabi and lecture halls. It is a calling, one that demands courage, integrity and storytelling as its most important hallmarks.

    Journalism was born in curiosity, sharpened by experience, and baptised in war zones and whistleblower meetings, in courtroom steps and dusty village councils, in the hunger to know and the courage to tell. The tools of journalism are a keen eye, a listening ear, a questioning mind, and an unwavering moral compass, and these are not the sole preserve of the formally trained. They are nurtured in newsrooms and notebooks, in lived experience and long nights of writing and rewriting.

    In a world awash with misinformation and opinion masquerading as fact, the role of the journalist becomes ever more vital and ever more contested. But the answer to who a journalist is cannot rest solely on a diploma. It must rest on the deeper question: Does this person tell the truth? Does this person amplify the unheard? Does this person ask the hard questions, not just to provoke, but to illuminate?

    Some of the greatest journalists the world has known entered the craft from other doorways. They came not with credentials but with conviction. They proved that journalism, unlike medicine or law, is not only about what you know, but how you seek, how you speak, and whom you serve.

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    Outstanding journalists with no formal training in journalism are plenty. My senior colleagues like Shola Oshunkeye, who won the CNN African Journalist of the Year many years ago, Declan Okpalaeke, who also won the same award, and Sam Omatseye, have no degree in journalism or Mass Communications; yet they have shown courage and integrity in the pursuit of truth, which are the heart and the soul of journalism. They are fantastic writers whose prose makes truth read so well that believing them becomes easy.

    Anderson Cooper, one of CNN’s most recognisable anchors, did not study journalism. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in political science. His entry into journalism was unconventional. He began as a freelance war reporter, selling footage to Channel One. His commitment to reporting and powerful storytelling earned him acclaim, proving that passion and persistence can outweigh credentials.

    We also have Hunter S. Thompson, the father of “Gonzo journalism,” Thompson never studied journalism. He wrote with a distinctive, immersive style that blurred the lines between reporter and participant. His work for Rolling Stone and his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has redefined narrative journalism and inspired generations of writers.

    What about the amazing Christiane Amanpour? She is CNN’s Chief International Anchor. She studied journalism-related courses but did not pursue a specialised journalism degree. Her career has been built on fearless reporting from conflict zones, including the Gulf War and the Bosnian War, earning her international respect.

    I must also tell you about Malcolm Gladwell of The New Yorker who is also a bestselling author. Like Omatseye, Gladwell studied history. His career in journalism was built on curiosity and critical thinking rather than formal journalism education. His success demonstrates that insight, clarity, and storytelling can be just as vital as formal training.

    And we have Sanjay Gupta, an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He is the chief medical correspondent for CNN.

    Let me also mention Ida B. Wells, a pioneer of investigative journalism and a civil rights icon. Wells had no degree in journalism. In her time, few such opportunities existed for African-American women. Her fearless reporting on lynching in the American South set the gold standard for investigative reporting and advocacy journalism.

    Pioneers of the profession in Nigeria such as Obafemi Awolowo, Lateef Jakande, Babatunde Jose, Alade Odunewu, Ernest Sesei Ikoli, Peter Enahoro and others had no formal journalism credentials.

    My final take: What unites all great journalists is not a certificate but a commitment to the truth, a relentless curiosity, critical thinking, strong communication skills, and the ability to build trust with sources and readers alike. Ethical conduct, fairness, accuracy, and accountability are the true hallmarks of journalism.

    The truth also is that diverse educational and professional backgrounds are assets to journalism. In The Guardian in its early days, this was used to advantage as professionals from different backgrounds were made to man desks such as science, banking, property and so on. Truth is: A science journalist with a degree in Biology or a political correspondent with a Law background often brings deeper insights into their beats than a generalist might. Journalism thrives on interdisciplinary knowledge and lived experience.

    Lastly, the practice of journalism is at the intersection of fact and humanity. And that is not a place built by degrees alone.

  • A quarter of a century a journalist

    A quarter of a century a journalist

    The window-unit air-conditioning system in the sitting room, which served as the newsroom of The Source magazine on 30, Emina Crescent, off Toyin Street, Ikeja, Lagos, was working at full blast that morning of June 1999.

    Maik Nwosu, who we didn’t know would a few years later make America home and become Professor of English and chair of the Department of English and Literary Arts at the University of Denver, Colorado, sat facing the reporters, staff writers and assistant editors. He was the Executive Editor and calling the shot at what was my first editorial meeting.

    Sitting by Nwosu was the one we called Oga Victor, Victor Ogene, the General Editor, who nothing showed us then would years later leave the newsroom to become a member of the House of Representatives.

    At the meeting, each member of the newsroom defended their story ideas. It soon got to my turn and Nwosu asked me to explain why the ideas I submitted deserved space in the magazine, which was famed for its poetic-prose style of writing. My mouth suddenly became heavy and opening it became an Herculean task. It was a strange setting for me, but months down the line, I would master how to function and standout in the milieu.

    It has been twenty-five years since that humbling first editorial meeting. If I were a Yoruba Nollywood veteran, this would have been a good time to roll out the drums. I could make money selling asoebi to friends and admirers to attend an event to mark twenty-five years of a fruitful career as a journalist. I could also invite Pasuma to serenade these guests. I could do many a thing, a thousand things.

    But, journalists don’t roll that way. We’re not meant to be celebrities, we’re not meant to be seen but heard, we are supposed to be doing some form of public service and our rewards, like teachers, are supposed to be in heaven.

    The conservative nature of our job is actually changing. Many have defied the odds; they’ve become celebrities, they have been seen and heard, they have received their rewards here on earth because heaven can wait.

    For me, it’s been a very eventful quarter of a century. Back then at The Source, interns took the same tests as reporter-researchers. If you failed the tests, the magazine would deploy you to its library. If you passed, you stayed in the newsroom. Ogene was so impressed with my performance that he asked if I had written for a newspaper before. I had only done campus journalism.

    Within months, Ogene, Nwosu and Comfort Obi, the publisher, felt there was something in me and I got employed as an Editorial Assistant, a position I held for just a few months before I became a reporter-researcher.

    In my early years at The Source, I was nominated for the Nigerian Media Merit Awards (NMMA). Two years later, I got two NMMA nominations for aviation reporting and banking and finance reporting. I won the aviation reporting category with a story of how the Nigerian Airways was raped to death under Gen. Sani Abacha while Alhaji Jani Ibrahim was Managing Director. It was a report that almost didn’t come out. Pressure was mounted on my publisher to kill the story, a request she told me she was unwilling to grant. I was glad Madam, as we fondly called her, didn’t kill my story, a story whose success eventually made Adegbenro Adebanjo, then Head of Newsroom at Tell, got me to leave The Source, the magazine where I moved from being a shy reporter who couldn’t talk at the first editorial meeting to a superstar who Ogene as the General Editor used the whole Editorial Suite section to celebrate after the NMMA win.

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    Tell was where I pitched my tent for four years after The Source and in those four years, I got nominated for Journalist of the Year at the NMMA for a report I co-authored with my friend, Adejuwon Soyinka, who the Department of State recently arrested for no discernible reason on arrival in Lagos from the United Kingdom.

    Four years soon ran out and to The Nation I headed and have spent the better part of my career. At The Nation, trips outside of Nigeria started falling on my lap, many of them influenced by Adeola Akinremi, Akinbode Oluwafemi and Seun Akioye. South Africa, Singapore, Tanzania, Ghana, United States, United Kingdom and China are places I have seen in my years in The Nation, some of them more than once.

    At The Nation, I got the bragging right as a multiple award-winning journalist, including winning the NMMA Columnist of the Year named after a profound first-generation Columnist, Alade Odunewu (Allah De).

    Also at The Nation, I published ‘In The Name of Our Father’, a novel I wrote as a 24-year-old working with The Source. At The Nation, this novel was nominated for The Nigeria Prize for Literature. Equally at The Nation, I published ‘Vaults of Secrets’, a collection of short stories.

    This year, Masobe Books released ‘After The End’, my second novel, which I began working on around my 20th anniversary as a reporter.

    Enough of me. Now, I need to zero-in on this industry, which has given me so much than it has taken from me.

    What I have seen between 1999 and now shows that the Nigerian media has come a long way from Henry Townsend’s ‘Iwe Iroyin’.

    For years, the media houses in Nigeria have been struggling, with majority on some form of ventilator, a situation that has been further worsened with Naira’s unenviable crash. For the majority, salaries are either not paid or terribly delayed. There are times journalists go for months without pay. As you read this, hunger virus has plagued many a colleague.

    Only a few publishers constantly pay what can truly be described as a take-home package. I can count them on my fingertips. They are that small. The majority do not pay well and, sadly, they struggle to pay these peanuts. Even those who get paid can achieve little or nothing with this pay because the dwindled value of Naira has made their salaries senseless.

    It’s not surprising that the industry regularly loses its best brains. Go to the banks, the oil and gas sector and telecoms, you will see several players who will describe themselves as former journalists. Ask them why they quit and the answer is not going to have any link outside of poor welfare. These guys were good reporters and writers, some of those who made the industry tick but had to jump ship to be able to give their families decent living.

    Now the situation in the industry, which has not seen any major investment in the last few years, has gone gaga. No thanks to a combination of Coronavirus pandemic and the  Naira clash. For the media, sales and advertising are at all time low and getting up on its own without external help is a task I doubt our comatose industry is capable of. Print-runs keep being reduced because circulation and marketing have been affected. We need help.

    Media houses’ balance sheets are in red and this makes it difficult to foot the bills which before now were Herculean tasks.

    Significantly, getting to bring in newsprint and other consumables for their production has been hampered and, sadly, online and e-paper versions are yet to live up to expectations.

    My final take: The Nigerian media should be doing far better than we are doing given the advantages of technology and development. Journalists deserve to be treated like kings and not dregs. Only then will the media take its pride of place in the heart of the people and only then will the society be truly served.

  • Coalition faults arrest of journalist

    Coalition faults arrest of journalist

    The Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has condemned  reported attack on the Kaduna state correspondent of the Daily Times Newspaper Gabriel Idibia, by officers of the Kaduna State command of the Nigerian police force on 11th of June, 2024.

    Idibia in a chat with the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) confirmed that he was arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) police station, Gabasawa, while taking pictures of a large herd of cattle being shepherded by the police on Kachia expressway, a usually busy road in the state.

    He was thereafter taken into custody and brutally beaten up. Idibia insists that the physical torture severely affected his eyes forcing him to access eye treatment. His allegations have been corroborated by media reports and an eye witness that was arrested along with him.

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    Before his arrest, Idibia had presented his identity card to the police officers to identify himself as a journalist trying to cover the blockage of the Kachia expressway by the herd of cattle led by the same policemen. He was however denied an audience by the officers who asked him to leave the scene of the incident for no reason. The police officers thereafter seized his mobile phone and identity card when Idibia tried to take a picture of the road blockage and took him to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) police station, Gabasawa where he was detained from morning till late in the evening.

    Idibia added the policemen forced him to write a statement without access to his lawyers or colleagues. He narrated his ordeal, “on getting to the police station, one of the officers who brought me to the station punched me in the face, and hit one of my eyes, leaving me almost blinded.” He alleged that the police has threatened to indict and label him a bandit.

    Spokesperson of the Kaduna State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, an Assistant Superintendent of Police said he saw no sign of assault on Idibia when the journalist met him in his office after he was released. He however did not deny his unlawful arrest and detainment.  He told the CJID in a phone conversation, “he was eventually granted bail on self-recognition.”

  • Journalist to launch humanitarian foundation July 10

    Journalist to launch humanitarian foundation July 10

    Journalist to launch humanitarian foundation July 10

    A broadcast journalist and philanthropist Abimbola Agbebiyi is set to officially launch the Tabitha-Abimbola Foundation in Lagos.

    This announcement was made in a statement by the Foundation’s public relations officer, Samiat Ishola, on Tuesday, June 25.

    According to the statement, the foundation is Agbebiyi’s initiative, aiming to support the poor, with a special focus on indigent women and underprivileged children in society.

    “Our mission is to create a world where these persons regardless of their background or circumstances can have access to essential resources and support to thrive and reach their full potential.

    “Driven by this passion, we are committed to upholding the principles of charity and social justice in our work as we strive to make these positive impacts by also promoting education and healthcare access in underserved communities, one family at a time, until our impact is felt across Nigeria and beyond its shores.

    “Ahead of this historical event, we will be having the commissioning and unveiling of our new office space in Ikeja which is the highpoint of the occasion.

    “The foundation which started out on the 25th of June 2023, embarked on a mission to combat the scourge of poverty which has continued to limit the potentials of women. And this has recorded huge success as it presently boasts of 40 indigent who are currently beneficiaries of its empowerment scheme tagged PROJECT FEED.

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    “Under this project, the foundation has distributed food items and cash gifts to many families in 3 major communities in Lagos with the recent capturing vulnerable individuals and families from Makoko, Ogudu and Egbeda areas of the state tagged “iléyá food pack” to cushion the effects of the current economic situation of the country on the people.

    “As part of our Empowerment drive which goes beyond just giving people “Fish” we also teach them how to fish by empowering them with skills and tools to trade to help them become self reliant”, the statement read.

    The statement added: “In the course of the year, the foundation took a step further by introducing its STREET2SCHOOL INITIATIVE tagged PROJECT L.E.A.R.N

    ” It is our desire to uplift more children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds by offering them not only free education but also providing them with educational materials to aid learning.

    “All of these form part of our success story as the official launch of the Foundation approaches. Official Launch of The Tabitha-Abimbola Foundation/One Year Anniversary and Office opening has been scheduled to hold on Wednesday 10th of July with the Theme : Inspiring hope, Transforming lives. A celebration of Resilience, Growth and Impact.”

  • Witness: how journalist was defrauded of N1.4m

    Witness: how journalist was defrauded of N1.4m

    A Yaba Magistrates’ Court has heard how a lawyer,  Moses John Jackson, an octogenarian and veteran journalist, Segun Adeleke of N1.4 million.

    Jackson was arrested by the State Criminal, Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCID), Yaba, Lagos, following a petition datedMay 23, 2018  by Adenuga.

    An Investigation Police Officer (IPO) Okanya Johnson, told Magistrate (Mrs) Yeside Balogun that they received a written petition form the complainant, Adenuga, against the defendant, Moses Jackson .

    The witness said he knew the defendant very well.

    Johnson told the court that he knew the defendant very well.

    He said: “on January 25, 2018, a written petition was received from the complainant, Segun Adenuga against the defendant, Jackson and I was assigned to investigate the case.”

    He further confirmed to the court that that the defendant was the legal counsel  to the  complaint and that at a time, the complainant Segun required the services of the defendant.

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    “ Between 2002 and December 9 2009, the complaint required the services of the defendant, Moses Jackson to over see the property of his mother located at 19 Ramoni Street, Ikate, Surulere, Lagos.

    “Moses have been collecting rent from tenant .”

    The IPO further told the court that Moses who was the legal counsel, to the complaint at the time, suggested he should procure a letter of administration in order to enhance the price of the property.

    “Sometime  in 2009, the family of the complaint wanted to sell the building,. Segun contacted the defendant and he told him to procure a letter of administration to enhance the price of the property and he agreed with him.

    “Adenuga the complaint, gave him N280,000 and N500,000 to add to the rents collected from the tenants at their mother’s house and is se the money to procure the letter of administration.

    “The defendant collected the money and didn’t procure the letter of administration but sold the property at a cheaper rate.

    “That caused problem in the family” the witness said.

    The witness said on  May 3, 2018 the defendant denied thhs  in his statement.

    The court adjourned to July 11 2024 to continue  with  evidence  by PW2.

  • How youths attacked reporters, security agents, others- Journalist

    How youths attacked reporters, security agents, others- Journalist

    An Ebonyi-based Journalist, Uchenna Ịnya, has narrated how he and other journalists were attacked by irate youths of Nkomoro community in Ebonyi State on Saturday.

    Inya, who is the correspondent of Sun Newspaper, said his car windows was smashed in the community when he went to cover the installation of a new monarch for the community.

    The event turned violent when government officials coronated one of the contestants, Jacob Nwakpa against the wishes of majority of the community members.

    He noted that his alertness and proactive steps ensured the attack on his vehicle was not as severe as that suffered by others including security agents.

    He said: “I was invited to cover the coronation of a new traditional ruler for Nkomorọrọ community. I knew that the area is volatile so I elected to go with my car for easy escape incase of any issues.

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    “I went with my colleagues Godwin Oguta and Chinelo Okoro of Unity FM.I refused to go with a convoy going to the area. I was adviced to follow army/police/convoy  which accompanied one Jacob Nwakpa(one of the contestants) and I refused to do so knowing the implications. 

    “It was because I didn’t go with the convoy that  my vehicle’s own destruction was not as serious as the vehicles in the convoy that were properly smashed.

    “It was even a hand that the guy that smashed my car used and smashed it after maneuvering through a lot of them and he blocked me on the road when I almost succeeded in escaping,” he narrated.

    Inya noted that he would have left earlier before the area turned violent when he noticed it was becoming  charged but for the refusal of  colleagues he drove to the venue.

    “Both Jacob Nwakpa and Oscar Nwafor invited me and pleaded that I should join their vehicles and come there. I refused and told them that I can’t do so and decided to use my car. 

    “Oscar Nwafor personally pleaded that I should join his car. I told him I can’t. Jacob Nwakpa also did same and I refused because I knew what will happen.

    “If Chinelo Okoro and Godwin Oguta had obeyed me when that man came out with a paper and pleaded that the exercise should not hold, nothing would have happened to my car. 

    “This is because atmosphere was still friendly that time but they refused to join me and I had to wait for them to meet my car.

    “The youths started raising their voices and hands against Chika Igboke the Coordinator of Imoha Development Center after he presented a paper to them that he was directed by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy matters to coronate Jacob Nwakpa”  

    “They were protesting against it. It was at that time that a member of the community appeared with a paper which he said is a court order and pleaded that Nwakpa should not be coronated. 

    “While they were doing this, Nwakpa was taken and coronated which caused the crisis.

    “As the youths were raising voices, Jacob Nwakpa and wife were brought down from his  jeep and coronated in a place very close to where the jeep was parked which is also close to where the youths were raising voices”.

    He noted the youths started destroying cars in the area leading to Nwakpa and wife being smuggled out of the area.

  • Journalist released from prison after IPI Nigeria’s intervention

    Journalist released from prison after IPI Nigeria’s intervention

    A journalist, Ibraheem Hamza Mohammed, was on Friday released from prison after the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) intervened in his case.

    According to a statement by the Legal Adviser/Chairman, Advocacy Committee of

    IPI Nigeria, Tobi Soniyi, on Saturday in Abuja, “the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police arrested Mr Mohammed on 1 May after he was accused of falsely publishing that N40 million was stolen from Governor Abdullahi Sule’s bedroom.

    “The article was published on 22 February 2024 on First News, a Lagos-based online newspaper.

    “The police then charged him with violation of the Cybercrime Act and secured an order for his remand at the Medium Security Custodian Centre in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, pending the commencement of trial.

    “However, the journalist was released Friday after a Nasarawa High Court sitting in Doma granted him bail. He spent 10 days in jail.

    “He will remain on bail till 13 May when the police are expected to withdraw the charges against him and discontinue the trial.

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    “To secure his release, IPI Nigeria’s delegation led by the President, Musikilu Mojeed, visited Lafia on 6 May, meeting with top officials of the Nasarawa State government, including Governor Sule, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Labaran Magaji, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor,  Ibrahim Addra.

    “The delegation also visited and conferred with the journalist, Mr Mohammed, in prison.”

    He added that the management of First News has apologised to Governor Sule over the story, saying it has since found “that the said story lacked any form of truth in it and that the reporter merely concocted the story in his bid to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor.”

    “While tendering an unreserved apology to the Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, we wish to assure him that such will not repeat itself ever again,” the newspaper added.

    Soniyi said: “IPI Nigeria is hereby admonishing Nigerian journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession, desist from publishing false news, and continue to observe a high degree of standard in their practice.”

  • Every journalist should write a book

    Every journalist should write a book

    As I read Niran Adedokun’s new book, ‘Every Journalist Should Write A Book’, I see a number of our colleagues either dusting up their abandoned manuscripts or starting afresh. I see many who will read this book deciding to go beyond being just journalists and transiting into published authors. I see many being inspired and I see many still preferring to maintain the status quo, still saying no one will read them, still saying they don’t have time, still saying they don’t have money, still saying they don’t know how to find a publisher and still saying ‘I’ll start it tomorrow’ and when tomorrow comes, they’ll say there is still time; the same time we all know waits for no one. And in the long run, not every journalist will write a book.

    ‘Every Journalist Should Write A Book’ captures the multifaceted role of journalists, who traverse diverse landscapes from palaces to slums, documenting the tapestry of human experiences. They serve as catalysts for economic revival, dissecting facts and figures for the masses while engaging with leaders and dissecting public policies. The author laments the loss when journalists fail to immortalise their wealth of knowledge and experiences in books, a missed opportunity for personal growth and societal benefit.

    The author doesn’t present this book-writing task as being without challenges. Adedokun underscores the need for perseverance and discipline in mastering the art of writing. He goes further to establish the wide gap between journalistic writing and the delicateness of the long-form writing that books require.

    He also gives insights into why many journalists are yet to become authors. Reasons: Mindset, procrastination, self-doubt, what to write about, fear of acceptance, money, perfectionism and unrealistic goals. He urges journalists to envision success, join support groups, defy negative thoughts and show themselves compassion.

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    Adedokun, who has authored books of essays, biographies and fiction, provides a roadmap that can lead journalists towards enlightenment and self-discovery.

    ‘Every Journalist Should Write a Book’ offers a practical approach. It has a ‘how to’ section which offers a slim-fit, step-by-step guide on craftmanship hurdles. He provides a catalogue of what journalists can write about. These include fiction and non-fiction. He breaks these genres further down into novels, memoirs, creative non-fiction, biographies, self-help, and more.

    Many journalists are beat reporters, meaning they cover specialised areas such as judiciary, entertainment, crime and so on. Documenting their experiences on the beat, especially major events, Adeniran believes, can make interesting reads and great books.

    Journalists also travel a lot in the course of their duties. Adedokun suggests travel books as something worth pursuing. Travel reporters, he urges, can even write travel guides as books.

    The book instills confidence and motivation with its examples of successful author-journalists. From Charles Dickens to Mark Twain and Napoleon Hill, Adedokun shows us journalists who transitioned to authors. He also has Nigerian examples such as Segun Osoba, Mike Awoyinfa, Dimgba Igwe, Toni Kan, Azuh Arinze, Lanre Idowu and others.

    Arinze, who edited National Encomium for years before starting YES magazine, has many books. One of them is called ‘Encounters’. It is about his meetings with important figures such as boardroom guru Dr. Christopher Kolade, ex-beauty queen Bianca Ojukwu, elegant stallion Onyeka Onwenu, ex-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the late Dora Akinyili, ex-Governor Segun Osoba, ex-Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, and Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo. Others include Dr. Tunde Braimoh, advertising guru Biodun Shobanjo, United Bank for Africa owner Tony Elumelu, ex-Super Eagles star Nwankwo Kanu, Zenith bank owner Jim Ovia, Queen’s counsel, Fidelis Oditah, businessman Ken Caleb Olumese, movie star Kanayo O. Kanayo and Public Relations expert Yomi Badejo-Okusanya. Almost all reporters have met important people on their beats and can replicate something similar. Adedokun feels that the role models in the beats reporters cover can be subjects of books for them.

    Kan, a former editor of Hints, has written or co-written over 20 books. His first non-fictional book was on Princess Diana, which he co-wrote with David Dozie Njoku. He has also authored critically acclaimed works of fiction such as ‘Nights of the Creaking Bed’ and ‘Carnivorous City’. The two are still in so much demand over 10 years after they were released.

    The author also tells of his personal journey into becoming an author. His first book, ‘Ladies Calling The Shots’, is about female directors. He interviewed and did extensive profiles of them, which told us almost everything that should be known about them. Hungry for more, he followed up with a book of essays, ‘The Danfo Driver in All of Us’. A collection of short stories, ‘The Law is An Ass’, followed. Two biographies, one on the late Lt-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and the other on Wale Adenuga, have also come from his fountain.

    Seeing many of his colleagues sitting on books led to his latest, which offers pieces of advice on putting the ideas together, publishing and marketing of books and breaks down the types of publishing. The book’s value extends beyond mere authorship; it symbolises a legacy that transcends material wealth and fame. Adedokun emphasises that books, more than any other possession, ensure a lasting imprint in history, immortalising the author’s legacy.

    Long after I closed the last page of this book, I keep telling myself that veteran journalists need do us the honour of giving us books. They should not be like the great Lateef Jakande, whose memoirs went with him to his grave.

    The first female editor of a national newspaper, Dr. Doyin Abiola, owes us a book or books. One of them is a memoir on the June 12 crisis; the other is about her exciting times as a record-breaking journalist. It will be interesting to find out what was going on in the MKO Abiola family while the drama lasted and other juicy details I am convinced she has documented, for now, in her memory and needs to be downloaded on paper. And she has the mental and writing skills to do this. Will she oblige us?

    High Chief Ikechi Emenike, from snippets I have heard, has had fascinating experiences with finance ministers across Africa, especially West Africa, for decades. As the publisher of specialised Afro-centric magazines, he has had dealings with the drivers of economies. He has traversed that corridor like no one else I know. His adventures are the sort that will make a readable memoir, the type I’m dying to lay my hands on. Another book may also be about his wife’s emergence as Nigeria’s first female ambassador to the United States. Dr Elizabeth Emenike was our envoy to the Republic of Ireland before the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, named her the first female Nigerian ambassador to the U.S.

    Aside Dr Abiola and Emenike, there are so many other senior journalists owing us books. It is a debt they have to pay and it is hightime they paid it.

    My final take: It is a sin to die with a book in you, especially if you have all it takes—writing skills, resources, time and so on—to make it a reality and thus enrich the portfolios of human knowledge.