Nigerian journalists have been thrown into mourning over the death of a prominent colleague, Mr Ronald Mutum.
Mutum died on Friday night after a battle with cancer.
The deeply investigative and courageous journalist was one of the best reporters to have covered the Defence beat in his time.
As a senior correspondent with one of Nigeria’s leading media houses, Daily Trust, he worked hard to make his presence felt in the beats assigned to him.
He covered Defence, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission and other beats specially reserved for ‘restless’ journalists.
Mutum who arrived the country from Germany after a successful surgery a few months ago put up a post on his health condition on March 30, where he alerted his friends of the new medical challenge.
“They are calling it plumonery metastasis! It’s a new battle front… Already I’m on a new line of Chemotherapy! God is in control!!” He had said
The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Abuja chapter, Mr Emmanuel Ogbeche, described his death an a painful one though adding that the journalist “needed the rest.”
Mutum took on stories that scare other reporters and was saddled with the onerous task of covering “troublesome story mills” like Defence, EFCC, ICPC.