Juliana Francis
Mr Mojeed Alabi is an award-winning journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Development Reporting Services Limited (DevReporting), an online news platform. He is also Chairman, Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN).
He is one of the Nigerian journalists who has gone through hell and back in the course of carrying out his legal duty as an investigative reporter. Despite the threats and attacks, Alabi has never faltered in his job.
Recounting his experiences, he said: “I was attacked in 2014, where I suffered bruises. I did stories concerning abandoned projects, the first one was around 2014, which was supposedly to be an aquatic project. It was supposed to be handled by the Institute of Oceanography.”
When Alabi discovered that the project was not carried out, he did a deep dive investigation. When it was published on Premium Times, where he worked back then, it became an issue.
He further recollected: “The next thing was that I was attacked in 2014 during a rally which I participated in. The individual concerned at that time, who was just a member of the National Assembly at the time, representing Irepodun Olorunda and Osogbo Federal constituency, is Lasun Yusuf. He threatened that he would ensure that I was dealt with, and it came to pass.”
Part of the function of journalists, according to the Nigerian Constitution, is that the media will not only report and promote accountability in governance, but should also have the freedom to carry out their job.
However, despite the constitution, journalists in Nigeria are continually attacked, harassed, arrested, detained and threatened.
According to a report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), between 2006 and 2024, over 1,700 journalists have been killed around the world, and around 85 per cent of the cases did not make it to court.
Listing the country among the most challenging for journalists in West Africa, Reporters Without Borders ranked Nigeria 112 out of 180 countries.
According to Ngozi Comfort Omojunikanbi (Ph.D), Department of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in the journal, Analysis of the views and experiences of Nigerian Journalists on Safety and Impunity Against Media Rights: “These journalists are killed in questionable circumstances. They are murdered, killed in the line of duty. There is no conclusive investigation or prosecution of their killers.”
Alabi, continuing with his recollection, said that the second investigation that vividly comes to mind that tilted him against certain political powers was an investigation about a contract scam by a sitting Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
He narrated: “He awarded a contract of about N1.1 billion to his own company when he knew that at the time he was serving, he was also a director of the company, his children were directors of the company.
“We reported this, and unfortunately, the projects were not still properly, they were not functional. The projects were about water. The title of the story was Investigation: Nigeria Deputy Speaker in N1 billion Contract Scam. The contract was not properly executed, and it was not functional after so many funds.”
Alabi recalled that immediately the story was published, the Speaker’s brothers stormed his family home, threatening his mother and telling her that they would make sure to kill her son (Alabi).
“It became an issue that we had to involve the police in the local government. My lawyer also wrote a petition at a time to the police, warning against any form of harassment against my person. But you know, as usual, journalists do not have the resources to pursue any case against anybody. The police invited the Deputy Speaker’s associates at the time, his family members and his younger brother who had threatened my life and my mother,” said Alabi.
The invited lot tried to reach an amicable settlement to ensure that the journalist would no longer be targeted or harmed in any way.
He added: “In fact, at a point, I couldn’t go home for a long period, I couldn’t travel to visit my parents because of the threats. Also, I had to sell my car to avoid being attacked, I needed to hide my identity for some time. At that period, it was very obvious that the Speaker was in a hot seat.
“There were threats from SERAP and other civil society organisations, calling for his removal as the Deputy Speaker at the time, and some members of the National Assembly were also threatening that if he did not go back to complete the abandoned project, he would be in trouble. There were so many issues at the time. But we overcame, though no justice was served after threats to my mother and my person.”
Another investigative journalist, Mr Samson Folarin, with Punch Newspaper, said that he had become used to being threatened and blackmailed while doing his job.
He said that it was one of the challenges that come with being an investigative reporter in Nigeria.
His words: “As an investigative journalist, I have had to do a lot of stories that exposed people involved in corrupt practices. Sometimes when we do such stories, you can expect there will be responses from people concerned. I have been threatened, blackmailed, and physically attacked.”
He recalled that the first time it happened, it was baptism of fire, and it left him traumatised. This particular investigation focused on the misdiagnosis of a young graduate by a popular hospital in Lagos State.
While adhering to the tenet of journalism concerning fairness and objectivity and balancing his report, he reached out to the hospital.
After dribbling him for weeks, the Chief Medical Director finally asked him to come over to get the hospital side of the incident.
Folarin said: “While we were talking, he said that I was recording the interview without his authorisation, which was not true. He called security guards, and they took me to a room, a sort of detention centre, and kept me there. They said I wouldn’t be allowed out.
“One of the guards took my phone and deleted everything that had to do with the hospital. Incidentally, that was the first time I would be experiencing such a threat and harassment. It affected me and I was traumatised for weeks.”
Folarin said that one of the dramas he would never forget in a hurry was the threatening manner in which the medical director screamed at him, together with the security guards.
He said: “God! It was terrible. In investigative journalism, the people you are trying to expose will certainly fight back.”
Recalling other reports that had earned him threats and harassment, Folarin recalled an award-winning investigation he did on the former Director General of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO).
Folarin said: “Someone sent me a threatening message, the sender knew a lot about me and even knew where I live. He said that I should expect him and his gang. I was scared, so I had to petition the police.”
Another investigation that easily comes to the mind of Folarin is about a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State (UNIZIK).
“The man came all out for me. He sent all sorts of threatening messages and then resorted to telling people that I demanded money from him. Before I knew it, he went to court with that lie, claiming that I demanded money from him. I was shocked. This is someone I had never met. I have never seen him and I have never visited his office. He sued for damages and everything. However, the court threw out the case,” Folarin recounted.
Again, the investigation he carried out about a policeman, who killed a Nigerian citizen in Okokomaiko, also comes to mind.
He narrated: “The policeman was guarding a hotel, where he killed the man. When the hotel management found out that I was doing the story, I was arrested and detained. They demanded I delete pictures I had taken. That day was something else! I tried to stand on my right. I told them that as a journalist, I had the right to take pictures.
“The hotel management said that they needed to see my permit for taking pictures. So many pictures I took concerning the case were deleted, but when I got to the office, we tried to cover them. On two occasions, I wrote petitions, seeking protection, but nothing came out of the efforts.”
Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation to promote and protect the right to freedom of expression, media freedom, access to information, as well as digital rights and freedoms, during the 10 days (August 1-10, 2024) of the #EndBadGovernance protests across the nation, over 40 journalists and media workers were victims of various forms of attacks that were meted out on them for daring to come out to cover the #EndBadGovernance protests.
Nobody has been arrested or prosecuted for attacks or harassment of journalists.
A Media Monitoring Report On Infractions On Civil Rights In Nigeria, titled ” Hushed voices and the media’s defence of the civil space,” carried out by the Wole Soyinka Centre For Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), mentioned: “Within the civic space, nobody seemed immune from infractions including its protector, the journalists and media organisations. Of the 150 stories monitored, journalists suffered more civic space infractions with 65 (43.3%) incidents; citizens, 48 (32%); media organisations, 17 (11.3%); activists, eight (5.3%), multiple victims and survivors (stories with more than one victim/survivor comprising of journalists, activists and protesters), seven (4.7%); and three (2%) union members.”
The Report also maintains that most of the infractions against journalists happened in the line of duty.
The Report further states: “These are clear evidence of attempts by state and non-state actors to gag the press. To better understand the challenges journalists face as gatekeepers of the civic space, WSCIJ disaggregated the 75 incidents of infractions that happened to journalists in the line of duty. 19 (25.3%) incidents occurred in locations that were captured as ‘not specified’, while 17 (22.7%) happened on protest grounds.
“The rest incidents are eight (10.7%) each which occurred at court premises and security operatives’ offices; six (8%) were at election venues and homes of journalists; four (5.3%), State Houses; three (4%), office premises; two (2.7%), media house; and two (2.7%), during press briefing.
The Report recommends that media houses and journalists should file suits in the court whenever an infraction has been committed against them and the journalists in their employ, because many existing laws and judicial precedents are protecting the media from harassment or intimidation.
It further states: “Update knowledge on media rights and civil rights continuously for members of staff.”
Omojunikanbi emphasised: “Nigeria being a democratic nation, needs a free press for it to be successful. Democracy cannot thrive or flourish where citizens are not free to express themselves or publish their ideas and receive the ideas of others. Freedom of expression is a driver of all other human rights, and demands like the constitutional right to life, to property, to religion, to movement.”
The International Press Institute in August 2024, urged the Nigerian authorities to investigate attacks on journalists and to take measures to ensure journalists’ safety.
