Popular Lagos-based Cameroonian journalist, Simon Ateba has recently been in the news, due to his direct involvement in national issues.
However, there is something spectacular about him which most of his readers are not paying attention to.
Following his Facebook posts, it is often believed that he meant whatever he aired on his page and his personal account on Facebook.
However, the bi-lingual publisher of TheSimonAtebaNews and investigative journalist has been noticed begging for money to sustain his career as a media practitioner in Nigeria.
In his post dated January 10, 2017, the controversial journalist recounted how expensive it is to survive in Nigeria.
"I pay at least N500, 000 to the Nigerian government through the bank every year to work and live in Nigeria. Every year, I go to Skye Bank to pay. Immigration officials are my friends on Facebook and are reading this. One stupid guy tried me, so I blocked the idiot. He doesn't know that if you're using a foreign passport in Nigeria, it is expensive to live and work here.
"If you don't have a residence permit here, you cannot apply for an American visa here, airport officials will not allow you to board planes or to come in, and if you choose to bribe anyone, you may end up paying more and you won't have peace of mind.
"Despite paying all that money every year, money that keeps going up because of the fall of the naira against the dollar, I still travelled to Cameroon to do a story on Nigerian refugees there, to see how they were living and how they could be helped. And I ended up being arrested and detained in a stinking cell with suspected Boko Haram members for days. I still travelled to Burkina Faso to see how trafficked Nigerian girls could be helped. I still went to Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna and the rest to understand Boko Haram and see how we could end their reign of terror.
"I can mention a thousands things I have done and suffered for them fighting for justice and equality in Nigeria, fighting for the less privileged here. I have given my best in this country and overlooked all the challenges against me. I decided to be relevant and succeed anywhere I am on earth because to me anywhere is home.
"Nigeria is home. No one brought any land from his mother's womb and no one will take anything away. One day we all die and are buried if they find our stinking corpse. My time in Nigeria may not be that long anymore but I have enjoyed every bit from the campus to the work place to the Internet to everywhere. I will continue to enjoy myself even when hardliners who have never helped or fought for any Nigerian try to lecture me. May God Almighty forgive them." He posted.
In similar posts, he might be perceived to be indirectly begging for financial assistance.
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