Links
Three Nigerian journalists pay ultimate price after bloody year for global media
These are dark days for Nigerian media. The murder of three journalists last weekend was a reminder of the dangers faced by truth-seekers in a country where bribery and corruption are rife.
Edo Ugbagwu, 42, a court reporter with the Nation, was shot dead at his home in Lagos after men broke in and began arguing with him. According to Lawal Ogienagbon, a deputy editor at the Nation, Ugbagwu had not been working on any controversial stories and had received no threats.
On the same day, Nathan S. Dabak, 36, and Sunday Gyang Bwede, 39, working for the Christian newspaper the Light Bearer, were stabbed to death while on their way to Jos, the central Nigerian city which has seen the deaths of hundreds of Christians and Muslims.
The killings were condemned by the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
Nigerian journalists have been targets over their reporting in the past. In the country's most infamous case, Dele Giwa of Newswatch magazine, died after opening a letter bomb in 1986.The crime remains unsolved and many blame the nation's security services under dictator Ibrahim Babangida, who recently announced he would run in next year's presidential election.