DAPO Olorunyomi, Nigeria’s multimedia journalist, co-founder, CEO and publisher of Premium Times, is among four journalists from Russia, Nigeria, Iran, and Bangladesh, to be honoured with the 2020 International Press Freedom (IPF) Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Olorunyomi, perhaps more than his counterparts from Russia, Iran and Bangladesh has suffered irredeemable damages due to harassments by successive Nigerian regimes, both military and civilian.

Other recipients of the IPF Award are Svetlana Prokopyeva (Artiom Avanesov), Regional Correspondent of Radio Free Europe/Liberty Radio. She’s Russian; Mohammad Mosaed (Farid Kamran Nia), a freelance economic reporter who investigates corruption and allied issues. He’s from Iran; and Shahidul Alam, photojournalist, commenter and founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia training organisation (Pathshala Media Institute) and Drik Photo Library.

Elombah News quoting Joel Simon, Executive Director of CPJ, stated that: “Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJ’s honorees set out to report the news without fear or favor for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world… They understood that they would confront powerful forces, enemies of the truth, who would try to stop them from doing their work. What they did not foresee was COVID-19.

“The global pandemic has not only made their jobs more difficult and dangerous, but it has also fueled a ferocious press freedom crackdown as autocratic leaders around the world suppress unwelcome news under the guise of protecting public health.”