The Nigeria's successive governments since independence from Britain in 1960 have all practiced the tradition of aggressively clamping down or closing down private and independent media houses, arresting and prosecuting investigative journalists, silencing dissenting voices and opposition groups, suppressing any form of press freedom and free speech as well as monopolizing the press. The Sahara Reporters that was started by Omoyele Sowore, a former Nigerian anti-establishment student union leader in his days at the Lagos State University was born to from an ordinary desktop computer in New York city that has the free and the unresisted access to the whole world through the internet technology.
This online news organization has operated autonomously, independently and freely from its onset to date .This internet-based news organization is free from the direct interference of the Nigerian government and her security agencies that hate investigative journalism, free speech and press freedom. This online media is protected by the Amendment One of the United States constitution that supports the freedom of religion, speech, press and peaceful assembly for all Americans. The Sahara Reporters is very unique when it is compared with most of the Nigerian-based media organizations that operate inside and outside Nigeria in its operational styles and journalistic goals.
The Sahara Reporters rely mainly on the ordinary Nigerians (citizen reporters) for his news collection and not primarily on the professional practicing journalists for the news reporting about the menaces of the official corruption in the Nigerian government, the mismanagement of the Nigerian state resources by her officials, the reign of lawlessness, abuse of power, abuse of human rights and the rule of brutality that are happening in Nigeria of today. The Sahara Reporters has the the official policy of protecting the true identities of its informants from the public. The Sahara Reporters has given the much needed international voice to the ordinary Nigerians, the opposition groups and to the dissecting opinions in and outside Nigeria.
The Sahara Reporters has also received financial help, free money or grant money from the two highly reputable international non-governmental organizations to date that has allowed it to expand and to modernize its entire operations to the 21st century international standards. The Ford Foundation gave $175,000 to the Sahara Reporters and another $450,000 grant came from The Omidyar Foundation. The Sahara Reporters is recognized today by the major international news media, such as, the CNN, New York Times, Daily Beast, Aljazeera, BBC and many others for its reliability, credibility, fairness, boldness, balanced and objective news coverage and reporting. The Sahara Reporters also has more than 600,000 likes on its official Facebook page.
The Sahara Reporters is known globally for its powerful and dynamic investigative news reporting. The media was the first to reveal the true nature of the illness and the final death of the former Nigerian leader Musa Yar'Adua. The Sahara Reporters was also the first new media to publish the photo of the Nigerian man, Farouk Adulmutallab (the underwear bomber) that attempted to bomb an airline over the United States few years ago. This nedia was also the first to expose the current certificate scandal and the official fraud that surround Stella Oduah, the current Nigerian aviation minister as well as many other high-class cases of massive official corruption against the Nigerian public officials. The Sahara Reporters has provided Nigerians with many of these important information that are normally censored by the government of Nigeria or are kept away from the millions of the ordinary Nigerians by the state.
The Sahara Reporters is now a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria by all ramifications. This media organization is today loved by ordinary Nigerians, known as a threat to the Aso Rock villa and feared by the public officials of the Nigerian government. The birth of the Sahara Reporters is similar to the birth of the NADECO, Radio Kudirat and the many other pro-democracy groups that were all born in the days of the military dictatorship of the late General Sanni Abacha of Nigeria. The future of this media organization in New York city remains very bright for now as long as the reign of bad government continues unabated in Nigeria . A government in Nigeria that is primarily symbolized by the official corruption, scandals, official secrecies, massive resources mismanagement, prevention of the freedom of the information act, lawlessness, injustice, mediocrity, nepotism, tribalism, insecurity, violations of human rights, suppression of press freedom and free speech as well as electoral frauds.
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