Still in the celebration mood of the World Press Freedom Day, strange reporters meet Fatima Ibrahim, an outspoken
radio host at the Dandal Kura station in Borno State, north-eastern Nigeria.
Fatima discusses human rights, land laws and also, the radical Islamic views of
militant group Boko Haram in local languages and dialects.
The northeast of
Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest energy producer, is the main battleground
in its decade-long fight against Boko Haram and fellow Islamist insurgent group
Islamic State West Africa Province.
I have a passion for it
because the radio, most especially the Dandal Kura radio, is a radio which is
for the voice of the Lake Chad basin. Most especially those people that are
affected by the insurgency...
The region is also
plagued by clashes between farmers and herders in which hundreds have died.
The radio station was
started in 2016 and claims to have about 10 million listeners in northern
Nigeria, and parts of Chad and Cameroon.
Over the years, the
station has received video tapes from the extremists decrying their operations
and vowing to behead the women that work there.
Famita says she is
undeterred by their threats and has even taken her own safety precautions.
Dandal Kura, once
funded by United States and the UK now describes itself as editorially
independent.
Fatima and her
colleagues are not afraid to talk about insecurity and the many other issues
facing their listeners – and more importantly in some cases, give listeners a
platform to share the trauma they’ve suffered and current challenges they face.
REUTERS
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