Publisher | TELL Communications Ltd. |
---|---|
Founded | 15 April 1991 |
Headquarters | 8, Ashabi Cole street, Central Business District (CBD) Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos |
Circulation | 20,000,000 |
Website | http://www.tell.ng/ |
Tell Magazine is a weekly News magazine published in Nigeria. [1] In 2007, BBC News described it as "one of Nigeria's most respected news magazines". [2]
Tell magazine published its first edition on 15 April 1991. All five of the founding editors had worked at Newswatch , where they learned to create in-depth, investigative feature stories. They left that magazine due to low pay and disagreements with senior management, hoping that the new magazine would be more fulfilling. Although the magazine's founders had high ambitions, they were not initially hostile to the government. However, they were determined to be free of government or political influence. [3]
The magazine questioned whether General Ibrahim Babangida was sincere in saying he would hand over to a civilian government. The 2 May 1993 edition with headline "Transition: 21 Traps against handover" was seized, and had to be reprinted in tabloid format. Two more major seizures occurred before Babangida was forced from power in August 1993. [3] In all, 500,000 copies were seized in the last four months of Babangida's rule. [4] Tell's circulation rose to as many as 100,000 copies each week in the build-up to the June 1993 presidential election and in the subsequent confusion. Facing harassment from security forces, the magazine began printing underground in July 1993. On 15 August 1993 police raided the offices and arrested editor-in-chief Nosa Igiebor and editors Kola Ilori, Onome Osifo-Whiskey and Ayodele Akinkuoto. holding them for 12 days. [5]
Conditions became more difficult after General Sani Abacha took power in a November 1993 military coup. On 2 January 1994 armed policemen and security officers seized 50,000 copies of the magazine at the printer's premises. The issue was titled "The Return of Tyranny - Abacha bares his fangs". [6] The editors resorted to guerrilla tactics to survive, forming cells and frequently moving, with the magazine printed covertly in different locations. They relied on help from civilians, who supported the magazine by providing office space, buying copies and helping in many other ways. [3]
After the newspaper published a story that revealed that Abacha was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, police and military raided Igiebor's house while he was away. His wife was maltreated when she said she did not know where he was. A soldier pointed a gun at his four-year-old daughter, threatening to shoot if Igiebor was not produced. [7] Igiebor was jailed for six months from late 1995 to 1996, and later fled abroad to escape the threat of assassination. Osifo-Whiskey also spent six months in detention, arrested after a year in which he avoided his own house and stayed with friends, one of whom was killed. [3]
In 1993, the Committee to Protect Journalists presented Igiebor its International Press Freedom Award, "an annual recognition of courageous journalism", [8] for his work with the magazine. [9] In 1998, Nosa Igiebor and the staff as a whole were awarded the Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat at the Amnesty International UK Media Awards. [10] The award's notice stated; "Tell has continued to publish throughout the period of Nigerian dictatorship despite intimidation, harassment and the detention without charge or trial of Mr Igiebor and other senior members of the Tell staff." [11]
Sani Abacha GCFR was a Nigerian general who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful coup d'etat in the military history of Nigeria. He was the Chief of Army Staff between 1985 to 1990; Chief of Defence Staff between 1990 to 1993; and Minister of Defence. Abacha became the first Nigerian Army officer to attain the rank of a full military general without skipping a single rank.
Newswatch is a Nigerian weekly news magazine published by Newswatch Communications Limited in Nigeria. Newswatch's weekly print run can be as high as 100,000 copies.
Mass media in Nigeria has an interesting and long history.
The military dictatorship in Nigeria was a period when members of the Nigerian Armed Forces held power in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 with an interregnum from 1979 to 1983. The military was able to rise to power often with the tacit support of the elite through coup d'ètats. Since the country became a republic in 1963, there has been a series of military coups in Nigeria.
Gbenga Toyosi Olawepo is a Nigerian human rights activist and businessman.
Presidential elections were held in Nigeria on 12 June 1993, the first since the 1983 military coup ended the country's Second Republic. The elections were the outcome of a transitional process to civilian rule spearheaded by the military ruler, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB). The unofficial result of the election – though not declared by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) – indicated a victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who defeated Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). The winner of the election was thus never declared as the elections were annulled by IBB, citing electoral irregularities. The annulment led to protests and political unrest, including the resignation of IBB and a weak interim civilian government, and culminated in the continuation of military rule in the country with Sani Abacha ascending to power as the military head of state via a bloodless coup later in the year.
Babafemi Ojudu is a Nigerian journalist who was elected Senator for the Ekiti Central constituency of Ekiti State, Nigeria, in the April 2011 national elections. He ran on the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) platform.
P.M. News is a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria, by the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL). The company also publishes the weekly TheNEWS magazine and Tempo, a tabloid.
Alex Ibru was a Nigerian businessman, founder and publisher of The Guardian newspaper, who was Minister of Internal Affairs from 1993 to 1995 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
Svetlana Kalinkina is a Belarusian journalist known for her critical reporting of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Nosa Igiebor is a Nigerian journalist and editor. In 1993, he won the International Press Freedom Award of the Committee to Protect Journalists for his magazine Tell's coverage of Sani Abacha's military rule.
The 7th annual Amnesty International UK Media Awards took place on 25 June at the Park Lane Hotel, London. The awards ceremony was hosted by Melvyn Bragg.
Six awards were awarded in the categories: National Print; Periodicals; Photojournalism; Radio; Television Documentary; and Television News.
The Interim National Government was the government of Nigeria following the crisis of the Third Republic after General Ibrahim Babangida handed power over to Ernest Shonekan as interim Head of State on 27 August 1993. The largely powerless government was dissolved when General Sani Abacha seized power on 17 November 1993.
Kayode Soyinka is a Nigerian journalist, publisher, and author.
Kunle Ajibade is a Nigerian journalist, editor and author. In 1995, along with General Olusegun Obasanjo, and three other journalists, was jailed for life on charges of treason. In 1998/1999, he was a Feuchtwanger fellow at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles.
The Campaign for Democracy (CD) is a Nigerian civil society group that advocates for greater democracy in Nigeria. The group was first organized in the early 1990s to demand an end to the country's military dictatorship. The coalition organized demonstrations, strikes, and other civil resistance actions against the regime of Nigerian president Ibrahim Babangida from 1991–1993, particularly against the nullification of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election. At its peak, the coalition had more than 40 affiliated groups.
Oyedapo Oyekunle “Dapo” Olorunyomi, is a Nigerian journalist. He is the publisher/editor-in-chief of Premium Times, an online Nigerian newspaper. He is also the Executive Director of Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ). He was the policy director and Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Clement Chima Nwafor was a Nigerian surgeon and politician. He served as the first civilian Deputy Governor of Abia State from 1992 to 1993.