The name ‘Enenche Akogwu’ may not ring a
bell in the Nigerian media landscape — he was
only 31 in 2012 when Boko Haram gunned him
down in Kano. But he remains a hero.
On January 20, 2012, Boko Haram launched a
series of attacks on Kano state. The Farm
Centre Police Station was affected as well, by
a bomb blast that claimed dozens of lives.
Rather than rely on figures from security
agents, as most journalists are wont to do,
Akogwu dashed to the scene of the blast to
find out for himself what had happened.
Idris Jibrin, his friend, would later say that
Akogwu’s body was found hours after. He had
been shot six times — three times in the chest
and three in the stomach. The bystanders
from whom he requested information on the
blast were insurgents themselves, and they
wasted no time in pulling the trigger.
Thereafter, not much has been said
about Akogwu, who won the Channels Television
Chairman’s Award the year before his death.
His name has virtually disappeared.
However, on Wednesday night, at the Free
Press Awards in The Hague, Netherlands,
‘Fisayo Soyombo, who was awarded the
Newcomer of the Year award, extolled the late
journalist’s virtues.
memory of journalists such as Akogwu, who
have paid the supreme price for journalism,”
Soyombo said after receiving the award.
“The truth is that I didn’t know Akogwu
personally in his lifetime; I never met him. But
to have died the way he did, it’s something I
can relate with because I’ve reported from
that zone myself.
“I dedicate this award to Akogwu; a name like
his should never die. The world must not
forget people like him.”
