Stella Din-Jacob
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Dispatches

Reports from the field, set down in her own words.

Lead dispatch · 7 November 2026

ADC 086, Itoikin: 30 years after

On 7 November 1996, a passenger aircraft crashed at Itoikin, near Ejirin, 34 nautical miles from Lagos. A reporter barely a year into the job followed the story into the dark and came back with an account no one else had.

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Writing and media

The wider record

More of the assignments and coverage of a career in the field, grouped by region and subject.

West Africa: conflict and diplomacy

  • The wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone
  • March 1998: the restoration of President Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone by ECOMOG
  • Interviews with Johnny Paul Koroma, leader of the AFRC, and Foday Sankoh, leader of the RUF
  • Conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Mali
  • UN peacekeeping and peace-support missions, and the Mano River Union peace meetings
  • The extradition of Charles Taylor and West African political developments
  • UN, African Union, ECOWAS and Commonwealth Heads of Government summits, 1998 to 2012
  • The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Abuja and Nigeria’s return after suspension
  • The Benin Republic coup and its aftermath

Elections and political transitions

  • Elections and inaugurations across Niger, Mali, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo and Benin
  • The 1999 general elections and the inauguration of Olusegun Obasanjo
  • The 2019 and 2023 general elections, and the Ondo State election

Nigeria: democracy, trials and accountability

  • The human rights and civil society agitation for a return to civil rule
  • The trial of coup plotters
  • The Oputa Panel, and the prolonged trial of the Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha
  • The deaths of Abacha and of MKO Abiola
  • The $242 million Banco Noroeste case, involving Nelson Sakaguchi, Amaka Anajemba, Emmanuel Nwude and Nzeribe Okoli

Nigeria: conflict and security

  • The Niger Delta unrest, from Odi to Choba, and the Modakeke crisis
  • The Miss World crisis in Nigeria, 2002, as the pageant’s spokesperson
  • Insurgency across the North Central, North West and North East
  • Religious crises in Northern Nigeria
  • The #EndSARS protests of 2020

Aviation

  • ADC Airlines Flight 086 crash at Itoikin, near Ejirin, 1996
  • The ADK 053 plane crash involving the Sultan of Sokoto, Abuja, 2006, produced for Al Jazeera
  • Sustained reporting on the Nigerian aviation sector

International and humanitarian

  • The humanitarian crisis and food shortages in Niger and Chad
  • The 200th anniversary of the Sokoto Caliphate, for CNN
  • The Obudu Mountain Race, for CNN
  • Stories on Nigerian women, for The Guardian, London
NextRecognitionThe awards and fellowships behind the record.