West Africa's Journalist of the Year

Welcome to IWPR’s Frontline Update, your go-to source to hear from journalists and local voices at the front lines of conflict.

 THE BIG PICTURE  

The Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) is a separatist group in southeastern Nigeria that has claimed responsibility for attacks on police officers and military personnel as well as orchestrating and celebrating the murder of security agents and civilians.

Investigative reporter Kunle Adebajo’s IWPR story, Separatists Abroad Are Funding a Conflict in Nigeria. Others Pay the Price, for which he won West Africa Journalist of the Year 2025 - revealed how the group raised money for its operations through campaigns live-streamed on social media.

 VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE 

“The topic of insurgency in southeastern Nigeria is a sensitive one; that is why it is so grossly underreported,” Adebajo said. “Journalists, especially those from the affected region, are afraid of reporting the crisis. Residents are also afraid of speaking out, lest they are labelled as ‘saboteurs’ by the violent separatists and attacked.”

Adebajo’s investigation, commissioned as part of IWPR’s Voices for Change project, revealed how BRGIE, headed by Nigerian-Finnish citizen Simon Ekpa, was supported by a diaspora-led network.

“They must have thought live-streaming the fundraising meetings would attract more donors and sympathisers. However, it also meant the data was just there for grabs for researchers like me willing to do the grunt work.”

For his story, Adebajo tracked BRGIE activities from open-source intelligence, collecting and interpreting social media and data analysis, followed by an on-the-ground-reporting trip.

 WHY IT MATTERS 

“I'd wanted to create an unimpeachable body of work connecting the activities of the separatist group to the rising violence and fatalities in Nigeria, such as could support efforts towards diplomatic and judicial solutions,” Adebajo said. “The story resonated with so many people and provided evidence for what many had already suspected. My tweets about the story received hundreds of reactions - most of them positive - and millions of views.”

A month after Adabajo’s story was published, Finland-based Ekpa was arrested for inciting acts of terrorism and terrorism financing. His accounts were frozen, and in September this year, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

 THE BOTTOM LINE 

Adebajo’s long connection to IWPR began in 2019 when, aged just 22, when he joined a regional accountability and justice project as a reporter and fact-checker.

“Working on this project, I was exposed to under-reported issues that can be unravelled using investigative journalism, and learned how to ensure personal safety while reporting these problems,” he wrote in a World Press Freedom Day piece for IWPR.

These skills were all an integral part of his latest story for which he was honoured by the Media Foundation for West Africa. Without IWPR support, he notes, he would not have been able to undertake the field reporting which added such richness to what otherwise would have been a dry data article reported from behind a desk. 

“The timely grant I received allowed me to travel and speak to people impacted by the violence, including security agents and civilians,” Adebajo said. “It allowed me to better contextualise the numbers and put faces to the issues. The support from IWPR enriched and breathed life into the story.”

IWPR is expanding its support for impactful journalism in crisis and conflict areas globally, helping local voices shine a spotlight on urgent challenges – and making a difference.