Soyombo, former editor of TheCable, wins Wole Soyinka award

Fisayo Soyombo, former editor of TheCable, has emerged winner of the online category of Wole Soyinka Awards for Investigative Reporting.

His story, UNDERCOVER: In Borno,children are dying at IDP camps, foodstuffs are ‘disappearing’ at SEMA store published on TheCable in December 2016, won him the award.

The awards ceremony held at NECA House, Ikeja.

In 2016, Soyombo was named the Investigative Journalist of the Year after winning two of the three prizes available in the online category of the year’s Wole Soyinka Awards.

Receiving the award, Soyombo said he had learnt that victory belongs to God.

He dedicated the award to Simon Kolawole, chief executive officer of TheCable Newspaper Limited.

“If there is something that I have learnt in 2017, it is that victory belongs to God, success belongs to God. We humans just try,” Soyombo said.

“But in many ways, this year, I found out that only God rewards man with success.

“I want to dedicate this award to Mr. Simon Kolawole, my former boss, to say thank you to him for everything I learnt under him. Thank you.”

The grand prize for the 2017 Wole Soyinka Awards for Investigative Reporting was clinched by Adekunle Yusuf from The Nation Newspaper.

His story, Exposed: How corruption, favouritism thrive in Unilorin, published in March, won him the award.

He was also named the overall winner for Print Category. He had also won the award for the same category in 2015.

Other winners of the night include Chinwe Agbege of BusinessDay, Mojeeb Alabi of New Telegraph, Ayodele Adeniran of The Guardian and Tadaferua Ujorha of Daily Trust.