Nigerian journalists dodged attacks, mourned lost colleagues as they chased stories in 2023

Three days after he was declared missing by his family, the corpse of Hamisu Danjibga, a long-serving broadcast journalist at the Voice of Nigeria (VON), was found in a soakaway pit a few metres from his residence at the Samaru Quarters in Zamfara, North West Nigeria.

Danjibga, who reported extensively on the widespread insecurity in his state, was kidnapped on September 18, 2023 but his abductors, according to the police, stabbed him to death when he tried to overpower them.

 “I felt terribly sad when my father was found dead. But whenever I remember that he died as a martyr, I feel a sense of relief,” said Surajo Danjibga, son of the deceased, who spoke to Daily Trust newspaper.

Twenty-twenty-three was a tough year for Nigerian journalists. There were many instances of journalists getting harassed, threatened, or even paying the supreme price in the course of their work.

HumAngle