Team

Board Member

Umaru Pate

Umar A. Pate is a Professor of Mass Communication, the Deputy President of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria, ACSPN and the Dean, School of PostGraduate Studies, Bayero University, Kano, a position he secured after serving as the Dean of the faculty of communication in the same school.

Pate holds a PhD in Media History from the University of Maiduguri; Master of Philosophy from the University of  Ghana, Legon; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication – also obtained from the University of Maiduguri.

Board Member

Nwadinobi Ezinne

Nwadinobi Ezinne is a retired Permanent Secretary.

Board Member

Tunde Akanni

Tunde Akanni is a development activist who has been consistent with the study and use of media for development. He is a member of several professional bodies including the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition, the Michigan State University’s Responsible Governance programme, the Netherlands NUFFIC Fellowship and a University of Ibadan’s IFRA Fellow.

Akanni has served as a resource person for training, editing tasks, stakeholder mapping as well as for long and short term consultancies for local and international organizations including UNDP, DFID, Internews, OSI, NIPR, Friends of the Earth, Nigeria and so forth.

Board Member

Audrey Gadzekpo

Audrey Gadzekpo has more than 20 years of experience in teaching, research and advocacy on media, gender and governance, and more than 25 years practical experience as a journalist working variously as a reporter, editor, contributor, columnist, talk show host, socio-political commentator and magazine publisher/editor.  

She obtained a doctorate degree in African Studies at the University of Birmingham, U.K., a Master of Arts in Communications from Brigham Young University, Utah, USA and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Ghana.

Her research interests and publications reflect the nexus between media and gender; media, politics and democratic governance; media and developmental imperatives and media and conflict.

She teaches courses in Print Journalism, Media, Culture and Society, Gender and Communication, Introduction to Gender, Communicating Climate, Qualitative Research Methods, Media Ethics and History of Media in Africa. She has also designed curricula for Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts programmes as and developed short courses targeted at journalists and academics.

Board Member

Babafemi Folorunsho

Babafemi Folorunsho is a Culture and Education Entrepreneur.

Board Member

Adeshola Komolafe

Adeshola Komolafe is a female digital entrepreneur who is convinced that the future of entrepreneurship in Nigeria and Africa at large depends on women. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Oak Tv and Media Insight, an Integrated Marketing Communications firm with headquarters in Abuja.

She has an Honours degree in Political Science, and a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from Bayero University. She also studied Digital Marketing at MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts and Digital Storytelling at the Columbia Business School, New York.

Adeshola currently consults for several DfID programmes. In 2012, she was nominated for the Future Awards and in 2007; she received the International Youth Ambassador for Peace Award by the World Youth Federation for World Peace. She is a Fellow of the Initiative for Global Development Emerging Leaders; a member of the World Bank Youth Forum and AlJazeera Media catalyst. 

To give back to society, she started Save our Future, a platform that introduces underprivileged kids to information technology.

Board Member

Fred Adetiba

Fred Adetiba is a Human Resource expert. He was head of Project Management Office of Nuhu Ribadu Presidential Campaign Organization (Team Ribadu) where he designed, planned and monitored events/projects for the organization.

He bagged his Master’s degree from the University of Stellenbosch (2014-2015), Diploma in Personnel Management at the Institute of Personnel Management, Nigeria (2011-2012), B.Sc Sociology from the University of Jos (2002-2007).

Dapo Olorunyomi

Dapo Olorunyomi is an award-winning reporter and editor with varied experience in Nigeria and internationally. He was a recipient of the International Editor of the Year Award and has won the Freedom to Write prize and the Press Freedom award from PEN (West) and the National Association of Black Journalists respectively.

Mr Olorunyomi moved to the United States in the difficult Abacha years, where he worked, first, as Senior Fellow, Africa, at the Washington DC offices of Panos Institute, and later as the Nigeria Project Director for Freedom House. He returned to Nigeria in 2005 to work for the EFCC.

He was the co-founder of The News magazine in Lagos; enterprise editor at Next Newspapers and is the founder of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

He served as director and chief of staff of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from 2005 until 2008, voluntarily resigning when the then EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, was illegally dismissed in 2008.

He has won numerous other awards for his work in journalism.

Musikilu Mojeed

Musikilu Mojeed, an award-winning investigative journalist, was until 2011 Investigative Editor at Nigeria’s NEXT newspaper. A former John S. Knight International Fellow at Stanford University and Ford Foundation International Fellow at The City University of New York, he has reported extensively on corruption, human rights and human trafficking and is one of Africa’s most regarded investigative journalists.

A winner of several awards, including the FAIR’s Editor’s Courage Award and the Wole Soyinka Investigative Reporting Award among others. Mojeed was on the board of the Forum for African Investigative Reporters and is a member of the world’s foremost investigative journalism group, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Idris Akinbajo

Idris Akinbajo graduated with honours in engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University where he also served as Secretary General of the Students Union. Afterwards, he became a member of the investigative desk of the now rested NEXT newspapers that produced some of the greatest investigative stories from Nigeria between 2008 and 2011.

His numerous awards include being twice named Nigeria’s investigative journalist of the year, the Future Awards Young Person of the Year, and the FAIR African Investigative reporter award. He was also a finalist at the 2012 edition of the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year award.

He recently completed his Masters’ programme at one of Europe’s best schools of communication, the Graduate School of Communication at the University of Amsterdam, where his thesis was adjudged one of the best at the department and was shortlisted for the university prize.

Professor Ropo Sekoni

Professor Ropo Sekoni is a retired professor of English from the department of English & Mass Communications of Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In his academic career that spanned forty years, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Ilorin, and University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) in Nigeria, from where he was appointed professor of English at Lincoln University in 1989, where he served in various capacities till his retirement. 

He obtained B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) in English with social science subsidiary at Bowie State University in 1972 and M.A./Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison in Anglophone African Literature with a minor in Communication in 1977. From 1985-86, he served as Fulbright-in-Residence at the University of Florida, Gainesville in the department of African & Asian languages and literatures/African Studies Center. While at Lincoln, he also served as director of African Studies, Center for Comparative Study of the Humanities, and coordinator of Honors Program in English. Since his retirement, he has been a weekly columnist for Nigeria’s The Nation and a member of the newspaper’s Editorial Board; chairman of Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism; and consultant on English grammar, usage, and New Journalism style for Premium Times. 

He is a published author with significant contributions to the understanding of language and cultural identity in Nigeria. His publications include Folk Poetics: A Socio-semiotic Study of Yoruba Trickster Tales, Federalism and the Yoruba Character, A History of Ondo Boys’ High School.

Director of Programs

Akintunde Babatunde

Akintunde Babatunde is currently the Director of programmes at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, managing more than a dozen international projects across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Cameroon, Chad, Congo DR, Niger, Senegal, and Mozambique. Since joining the CJID, he has pioneered and led several flagship projects, including DUBAWA (2017-2018), where he authored dozens of articles, trained over 1000 journalists, and was nominated for the “African Fact-checker Award” of the Year 2018.  He also led the social accountability project – UDEME between 2018-2019 and, after that, led the creation of the natural resource and climate change reporting and research unit of the Centre (NAREP). In 2021, he became the pioneer Deputy Director of CJID’s Development program, coordinating the organization’s efforts to drive research and programmes across health, agriculture, environment, and security sectors in the Lake Chad Quadrangle. He has since then led the creation of several other initiatives at the centre, including the digital technology, artificial intelligence, and information disorder analysis centre (DAIDAC).

A UNESCO MIL Ambasassor, a fellow of the Mandela Washington Young African Leaders Programme, and a Chevening alumnus of the University of Sussex, Akintunde is a sought-after speaker and trainer, having trained over 5000 journalists and researchers in 13 African countries, and has delivered presentations on media innovation, AI, and sustainable development at notable institutions, such as the European Parliament, the New York Times Climate Hub, the University of London, and the Presidential Precinct.

Editor

Kemi Busari

Kemi Busari has over the past years demonstrated a robust commitment to journalism through his challenging adventures to tell human keen stories. Widely recognized locally and internationally, Kemi’s works have generated massive impact, instigated public discussions and driven policy changes in Nigeria.

Bringing on board his strong newsroom background, Kemi joined DUBAWA in July 2020 and has since been at the forefront of the battle against misinformation in public interest.

Kemi holds a master’s degree in Communication Studies, with a distinction, from Vrije Universiteit Brussels and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He can be reached @kemi_busari

Editor

Nathan Gadugah

Nathan Gadugah is currently the Editor for DUBAWA Ghana with editorial supervision over the DUBAWA Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia offices. He has two decades of journalism experience, most of which was spent at Multimedia Group Ltd, Ghana’s foremost private commercial media institution. There, he rose to become the Assisting Editor at Myjoyonline.com, the online platform of the Multimedia Group. He also served briefly as the Director of Public Relations and Communications at the Royal Commonwealth Society Ghana Office. Nathan a Masters in Communications at the Department of Communications Studies, University of Ghana. Healso belongs to several professional groups, including the Institute of Public Relations Ghana.

Project Manager

Temilade Onilede

Temilade is currently project manager for the fact-checking, verification, media and information literacy programme at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, DUBAWA. Over the years, she has contributed significantly to: instituting and institutionalising the culture of truth, verification and fact-checking across different newsrooms in anglophone West Africa, developing the fact-checking capacity of over 1000 journalists, reaching over 15,000 students in high school and tertiary institutions with the basic MIL skills to analyse and counter disinformation, launching new fact-checking initiatives and tools to enhance the information ecosystem in Africa. Temilade is at the moment overseeing, and implementing numerous impactful projects aimed at combating information disorder, and empowering journalists with the necessary skills to fight disinformation in Nigeria, across anglophone and Francophone countries in Africa. Her expertise in project management, coupled with her deep understanding of the information and media landscape, has been instrumental in DUBAWA’s success in fostering a culture of truth, verification, critical thinking and accountability in newsrooms across Africa. She continues to work closely with META Google News Initiative, National Endowment for Democracy, International Fact-checking Newtork and foreign embassies to implement projects around her field of expertise.

Project Manager

Roselena Ahiable

Roselena Ahiable is the Project Manager for DUBAWA West Africa, focusing on Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. She has overseen the implementation of multiple fact-checking capacity-building projects across her countries of focus, training hundreds of Media, Journalism, and Communication students, CSOs, parastatal government agencies, and Journalists on fact-checking.

Before her current role, Roselena was the Programme Officer for DUBAWA in Ghana. She joined the Centre in 2020 as a Senior Researcher at DUBAWA Ghana, where she developed and honed her skills as an avid fact-checker with great interest in Open-Source Investigations.

She holds a Master of Philosophy degree (MPhil) in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theatre Arts from the University of Ghana. With an extensive project and event management background, Roselena has overseen many successful advertising and marketing campaigns for notable brands in Ghana.

Copy Editor

Simbiat Bakare

Simbiat Bakare is an award-nominated journalist. She has a career spanning over a decade across all media platforms, including radio, TV, print and multimedia. She started her career as a journalist in 2011, as a radio presenter at Great FM 94.5, covering political and mainstream subjects. She also served as a TV presenter and reporter at Osun State Broadcasting Corporation in Osogbo. In 2015 and 2016, she was nominated as the Best TV Presenter at the OMA Award. Over the years, she has edited the foremost in-flight magazine in Nigeria, Malimbe, Africa.

Bakare is currently the Copy Editor of DUBAWA. Through her work, she ensures the grammatical and lexical accuracy of fact-checks and aids in curbing the spread of misinformation and disinformation in Africa. Bakare is an alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in the English Language. She also has a Master’s degree from the University of Lagos. She can be reached via email at: simbiat@thecjid.org

Assistant Editor

Lois Ugbede

Lois is a young, flexible, goal and result-oriented team player with five years of combined experience in journalism, and research. Her strengths lie in writing, communication, research, management, strategic planning, and civic engagement with a network cut across different newsrooms and communities in Nigeria and globally. She has written reports on development issues such as politics, social accountability, health, and elections. Lois’ objective is to work in a competitive and collaborative organisation where she can use her educational and technical background to positively contribute to the organisation’s overall productivity while learning and growing.

Communications Officer

Lateef Sanni

Lateef Sanni has worked within Nigeria’s media and civil society landscape for about three years, specifically as a fact-checker with Nigeria’s leading Indigenous fact-checking platform, DUBAWA. He has written over 70 fact checks, media literacy articles and explainers on different themes during this period. He has trained hundreds of campus journalists, professional journalists and government officials on fact-checking through several interventions in DUBAWA. In his current role as DUBAWA’s Communications Officer, Lateef is responsible for creating channels through which fact checks can reach different audiences; this has led to utilising social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram to realise this.

Communications Associate

Marilyn Nanbigne

Marilyn is a dedicated communications professional who recently joined the team at DUBAWA as a Communications Associate. With a solid academic foundation in psychology and archaeology from her undergraduate studies and currently completing a master’s degree in communication studies, she brings a unique and insightful perspective to the communications field.

Before joining DUBAWA, she gained valuable experience as a communications assistant, honing her skills in writing, media management, and content creation at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens.

Communications Associate

Asiat Jimoh

Asiat Jimoh is a Communications professional with a passion for impactful storytelling.

She has four years experience working on development and business projects in these areas: storytelling, digital media, social media management, strategic communications, content creation, proposal writing and fundraising.

In her current role as a Communications Associate for DUBAWA, Asiat brings a unique blend of skills to the DUBAWA communications team. Currently, she specialises in communications strategies and content development. She is on a mission to contribute to global development through powerful messaging.

She holds a  Bachelor’s degree in English and Literary Studies from the Federal University Oye-ekiti, Nigeria.

Digital and Data Manager

Benjamin Ajah

Benjamin Ajah is an Information Technology professional who is passionate about learning and imparting knowledge. He has extensive work experience in diverse tech fields, including data science, web design, visual design, product management and related fields. He holds an associate degree in Data Science and Business Analytics from Apsley Business School, London, and also studied Mathematics and Computer Science at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

Fact-Checker

Cole Praise

Cole Praise is a vibrant and problem-solving media development professional with over two years of experience. He was once a freelance journalist who wrote news reports about governmental activities and social development. Presently, he has honed his media skills in combating misinformation and disinformation, which ravages the media space and robs society of vital information. Additionally, Cole has published several fact checks around political, health, and technology-related false claims.

Recently, his focus has been exploring methods through which technological tools can be used to curb the spread of fake news, as well as, instructing young minds on the approaches to take in efficient news verification.

Fact-Checker

Elizabeth Ogunbamowo

Elizabeth Ogunbamowo is an award-winning researcher and fact-check officer with DUBAWA, a West African Fact-checking outlet leading the fight against misinformation and disinformation in the subregion. She is passionate about combating fake news and amplifying issues that affect people. As a researcher and fact-checker, Elizabeth has led several trainings focused on raising awareness about misinformation. With a good grasp of sophisticated fact-checking tools, she is highly experienced in the media landscape, having worked with top newsrooms in the country. She is also strong-willed and vivacious in delivering set goals. Elizabeth is a first-class graduate of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in Enugu State.

Fact-Checker

Jackson Clay Jr

Jackson C. Clay, Jr. holds a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Liberia and is a Liberian journalist with over ten years of experience. Jackson is an assertive, astute, and energetic leader. He is able to communicate effectively with people of all ages and backgrounds. He can work collaboratively to resolve problems and to motivate team members to achieve personal and organizational objectives. He is Creative, resourceful, and flexible. Able to adapt to changing priorities while maintaining a positive attitude with strong work ethics and promoting teamwork amongst team members.

Fact-Checker

Jesulademi Aborisade

Lademi Aborisade holds a degree in Mass Communication from Joseph Ayo Babalola University(JABU). She is an award-winning researcher and fact-checker with over two years of vast experience in journalism. Over the years, she has developed and refined her media skills to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation effectively. Through her efforts, she has become a crucial force in promoting truth and transparency, ensuring that communities can access the reliable information they need to make informed decisions.

She is an expert in fact-checking health claims, dedicated to promoting truth and transparency. Her work ensures that the public have access to accurate information, empowering them to make better choices for healthier living.   She is proficient in conducting comprehensive research, employing diverse methodologies to validate claims across multiple disciplines.

Fact-Checker

Kwabena Brako

Kwabena’s passion for communication drew him to public relations and marketing, where he worked with clients in industries including education, health, government, and non-profit. He is highly recognised for maximising opportunities and performance by implementing appropriate strategies through analysis of details to gain an understanding of brand perception, value, target market, and consumer preferences.

Student Fact-Checker

Miracle Akubuo

Miracle Akubuo is an HND student of Mass Communication at the Federal Polytechnic Offa in Kwara State. Born in 2004, Miracle hails from Enugu State, Nigeria, and currently resides in Offa, Kwara State.

Fact-Checker

Nathaniel Kyere Bekoe

Nathaniel Kyere Bekoe is a fact-check/ research officer with DUBAWA Ghana at the CJID. In my current role, I ensure that the media space is sanitized and audiences have access to the right information to help them make informed decisions.

Nathaniel holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Linguistics and a Master of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon. He has research interests in media audience studies.

Fact-Checker

Phillip Anjorin

Phillip Anjorin is a fact-checking researcher and solution journalist interested in mitigating information disorder and promoting Africans’ problem-solving initiatives. He specialises in explainers, media literacy articles, conflict and social media investigations using open-sourced tools. In addition to being a 2022 African Liberty Writing Fellow and a 2024 African Change Narratives fellow, his works have appeared on Nieman Lab, IJNet, and Solution Papers, among others. He has also appeared as a guest on prominent television stations like Plus TV Africa, Radio Nigeria and TVC, sharing his opinion and experience on information disorder and media literacy in Africa.

Fact-Checker

Laymah E Kollie

Laymah Kollie is a multimedia Journalist with over five years of working experience. She’s a fact-checker at DUBAWA.  Laymah started her career actively in 2018 as a Broadcast Journalist in Bong County at  Super Bongese Radio and Later transitioned to a Correspondent for Women’s TV-Liberia and Bana FM in  2020.

Laymah is a Solution Journalist with key focus on Climate Change/Climate Justice and Environmental Reporting. She’s resilient, passionate, goal oriented and persistent. In 2023, Laymah won as First Runner Up for the Youth Media Action’s Young Journalist Award in Liberia.

The vigilant young lady is also contributing to the narrative shift in Africa through the Bird Story Agency and Unzipped Stories Africa. Currently, Laymah is the Desk Editor at Women’s TV-Liberia and Legislative Reporter covering the Liberian Senate. She is a Bachelor Candidate at the African Methodist Episcopal University Reading Mass Communication.

Fact-Checker

Sunday Awosoro

Sunday Awosoro is a dedicated digital investigator and fact checker with an interest in uncovering information disorder in Africa’s information landscape. When he’s not working, he’s either travelling or seeing documentaries.

Fact-Checker

Mohammed Taoheed

Mohammed Taoheed is an investigative journalist and factchecker with a deep interest in how information disorder affects conflicts and humanitarian costs of crises.

With over three years of experience, Mohammed works at the intersection of research, climate change and development.

His works have appeared in Global Investigative Journalism Network, El Pais, International Journalists Network, Media Diversity Institute, Inter Press Service, Premium Times among others.

Fact-Checker

Fayia Moseray Jr

Fayia Junior Moseray is a print and digital, and broadcast journalist residence in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Fayia is currently a Consultant Fact-Checker, and Researcher with CJID / DUBAWA, responsible for producing factcheck, explainer, and media literacy articles. Fayia’s contributions have helped the growth and development of CJID/DUBAWA’s work in Freetown – Sierra Leone.

He is a journalist with five years plus experience with a series of journalistic works. He is also interested in human rights and democracy issues; hence, he is a human interests journalist and advocate.                              Fayia is an alumnus of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone – where he obtained an honours degree in Linguistics and holds a certificate in English for Journalism. He is currently pursuing a degree in Law at the same university. He is a friendly, open-minded, and positive young man with strong interests to learn, and venture into new things/ideas for both personal and professional growth. Fayia can be reached for any help, task, or support via: fayia@thecjid.org; moserayfayiajunior@gmail.com; call/whatsapp: +23279510272.

Many thanks!