My recent trip to Baga was an unforgettable odyssey. It began with a breathtaking military chopper ride from the Air Force Base in Maiduguri to the 403 Amphibious Brigade Base of the Sector-3 Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Baga, Borno, northeast Nigeria. The hour-long flight, shared with 22 journalists from Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon, […]
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After weeks of mapping out areas to easily get sources for a documentary on drug addiction in Lagos, I set out very early on April 12 after asking myself one last time if documenting the lives of drug addicts is something I really want to do. I concluded it was another opportunity to tell stories […]
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When I saw the burns on Ibrahim Shehu’s right arm, nothing would prepare me for the overwhelming gust of emotions I would feel immediately he turned towards me. I had already spoken with the village head a few minutes after I got to the displacement camp about what happened in Gidan Sale. He spoke of […]
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The voice on the phone was quivering. He was calling to tell me violence had broken out in Kano, just days to the beginning of the elections. Muhammad Sadi, a resident of Aikawa, called me on Monday afternoon, Feb. 20, 2023, he had witnessed a violent incident in Jakara, Kano Municipal Local Government, Northwest Nigeria, […]
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“If we don’t rise up, if we don’t come back to the train, it means they have won. For me, that was the motivation – I said, ‘Okay, we won’t let them win. We’ll return and keep pushing this country until we achieve what we want to achieve.’” These were the words of Daisi Alabi, […]
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Prior to our meeting, I have had a series of phone conversations with Sheriff Alamu* on how he possessed his firearm as a top member of Supreme Eiye Confraternity a.k.a National Association Of Airlords but he declined to speak. Soon, we arranged a meeting after assuring him of my cooperation. He promised to show me […]
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“No story is worth your life,” I was once told by a senior journalist. “Do everything to stay alive so you do not become part of stories to tell,” another media expert had said in a recent workshop. I have written several reports on the nightmare called sit-at-home in Nigeria’s Southeast. I have seen people […]
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On Aug. 24, a lorry heading towards Dawanau foodstuff market in Kano, Northwest Nigeria, blocked the ever-busy Kofar Ruwa underpass, instantly causing heavy traffic. A few minutes later, phone snatchers appeared out of nowhere and began pursuing drivers and tricycle passengers, forcefully confiscating their phones and other belongings. People watched helplessly as they were robbed […]
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During the last 10 days of Ramadan in the year of Covid, my baby brother was in the habit of leading the house in night prayers, known as Tahajjud among Muslims. It was for many reasons: he had memorised the Qur’an and so could ensure its completion during Tahajjud prayers before the holy month ended, […]
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20/04/2022 “It’s okay if we spot one or two motorcycles on this road but if they are up to five in number and are all ridden by young boys, I’m afraid we might be in danger,” Chima says. It is evening and we are driving along the Nnewi-Okigwe road, on our way to a community […]
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The day is Sunday, May 30, 2021. I’ll be going to the field again. And this time to another part of the country entirely facing a different, yet similar, set of challenges. It’s exciting. But a bit terrifying too. The region has changed a lot over the past months. Bandits, it seems, are spreading by […]
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As I approached Kura, about 80 kilometres from Kano city in north-western Nigeria, I thought I had escaped all the horrors of insecurity that have now extended to Zaria-Kaduna from the Abuja-Kaduna Road. And then I received a disturbing call from my mother, an elderly but well-informed woman who is always gluing her ears to […]
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