Investigative journalism is a career field dotted with a lot of hurdles and Citizen TV anchor Jeff Koinange is a living proof that the worst sometimes happens to scribes.
During an interview with Capital FM in 2014, the outspoken anchor recalled a time he worked for CNN and took up a dangerous assignment involving Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) rebels.
Before taking up the challenge, the eloquent journalist revealed that he had done the research for a whole year and it involved calling the rebels in order to gain their trust.
The rogue group would always refuse Koinange's advances until one day. they granted him the rare chance.
"Finally we got a call to go in and you know, when you are called to go in you always check with your people. Atlanta they said, 'Okay, just be careful.'
"We weren't sent with any security or anything. I had two people with me. I had a cameraman and a still photographer," recounted Koinange.
He then met the rebels and embarked on another journey for an hour and a half by the use of a boat.
"These rebels came and picked us up. We drove into the creeks in the boat for about an hour and a half. While we were in the boat, these guys approached us on the other side and started shooting at us.
"They were fellow guys to these rebels but apparently they had not communicated that we were coming," narrated the anchor.
That was when Koinange had a premonition that they were going to die and so he instructed his cameraman to keep recording for footage.
"And I said you know what, we are going to die now and I instructed my cameraman, I said, 'listen, keep rolling because if I'm going to die, I want to die on air,'" he continued.
The fire, however, later died down and they presented their documentation after which they were finally allowed in after a 15-minute lecture.
The ensuing report after the ordeal would land Koinange at crosshairs with the Nigerian government, who accused him of stage-managing the whole event, including hiring the 24 sailors who were reportedly kidnapped by the rebels.
Below is a video of Jeff Koinange's narration:
