'Fisayo Soyombo

'Fisayo Soyombo is an intrepid investigative journalist who has gone under cover on numerous occasions to expose corruption. He is perhaps best known for spending several days in a police cell and in a prison in order to expose corruption in Nigeria's criminal justice system, after which the authorities contemplated arresting him. He is also known for driving a 'stolen' vehicle from Abuja to Lagos, passing through 86 checkpoints, as part of an investigation into bribery.

He has investigated the abandonment of soldiers injured in battle against Boko Haram, corruption in the handling of corpses at government-run mortuaries and cemeteries, theft of foodstuffs at NEMA stores and IDP camps in Borno, the plunder of Ebola funds in Liberia, and, in 2013, the brutality of ethnocentric killings in Plateau State. In 2020, he went under cover for three weeks as a patient of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

A former Managing Editor of Sahara Reporters and the pioneer Editor of TheCable, Soyombo has also edited the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR). He is currently the Founder/Editor-in-Chief of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ).

Project topic: Coordinated discrediting of journalists in Nigeria

Sponsor: Thomson Reuters Foundation