Dan Agbo

Country Expert on Nigeria and West Africa — Investigative Journalism, Human Rights & Country Conditions Research

Summary
Investigative journalist, editor and OSINT researcher with more than eight years of experience conducting evidence-based research, analysing complex socio-political developments, reviewing source materials, and producing accurate, publication-ready reports. Possesses extensive knowledge of Nigerian and West African political systems, governance, elections, human rights conditions, migration trends, security developments, corruption and regional affairs. A former newspaper editor with a strong background in source verification, fact-checking, investigative methodology and editorial quality assurance, and particular skill in refining reports written by non-native English speakers while preserving factual accuracy and author intent.

Countries of Expertise
Nigeria (primary); wider West Africa (ECOWAS member states) — regional political, human rights, security and migration developments.

Details of Country Expertise
Independent country-conditions and human-rights research across Nigeria and West Africa, relevant to asylum and international protection claims.

Areas of expertise:

• Politics, governance and democratic institutions; elections and electoral integrity
• Human rights, civil liberties and freedom of expression / press freedom
• Security, conflict and insurgency, including Boko Haram/ISWAP, banditry and separatist movements
• Corruption, accountability and anti-corruption frameworks
• Asylum conditions, persecution risks and vulnerable groups
• Internal displacement, migration patterns and refugee conditions
• State protection capacity/willingness and internal relocation feasibility
• Trafficking, forced labour and gender-based violence

Professional services provided:

• Country-conditions and human-rights research and analysis
• Review, fact-checking and strengthening of expert reports (source verification, evidence assessment, source triangulation)
• Editing and rewriting of reports into fluent, publication-ready English (incl. non-native drafts)
• Document and public-records analysis, timeline reconstruction, and witness/victim interviewing

Experience
More than eight years across investigative journalism, editorial and research roles. Independent Investigative Journalist, Researcher & Editor (freelance, 2020–present); Journalist & Investigative Researcher at ExpertizeMe (2024–2026); Investigative Journalist at Green Bull Research (2022); General Editor at The Owl News, Nigeria (2015). Extensive experience analysing court filings, public records, NGO reports and government documents, and producing multi-jurisdiction investigations with documented source trails. Skilled with verification/OSINT tools (Wayback Machine, OpenCorporates, SEC EDGAR, UK Companies House, Aleph/OCCRP, GLEIF, InVID/WeVerify, TinEye). Education: Higher National Diploma (HND) and Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Mass Communication, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, Nigeria.

Publications / Selected Work
Bylined and ghostwritten investigations including multi-jurisdiction corporate-fraud, degree-mill, brand-fraud, cybercrime and public-accountability exposés; published articles across recognised media platforms (The AI Journal, CEOWorld, TechBullion, Home Business Magazine, India.com). Full editing and article portfolios available on request.

Languages
English (Native / Professional Proficiency), Igbo (Native Speaker).

Ethnic Groups
Major ethnic groups of Nigeria — Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo — alongside numerous minority peoples including the Ijaw, Kanuri, Tiv, Ibibio, Efik, Edo, Nupe, Berom and other Middle Belt and Niger Delta communities; and ethnic and minority groups across anglophone West Africa (e.g., Akan, Ewe, Ga, Mende, Temne, Krio and others in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia).

Political Groups
Political opposition members and supporters; pro-democracy and civil society activists (including #EndSARS and anti-government protesters); journalists, bloggers and media workers; human rights defenders and lawyers; separatist and self-determination movement members or perceived affiliates (e.g., IPOB in the South-East, groups in the Niger Delta); former detainees; and individuals at risk for their real or imputed political opinions.

Religious Groups
Christians and Muslims across Nigeria's religious divide, including Christian minorities in the North and Muslim minorities in the South; converts and those accused of apostasy or blasphemy; adherents of traditional and Indigenous African religions; and communities targeted in inter-religious and communal violence (including by Boko Haram/ISWAP and in farmer–herder conflicts).

Other Social Groups
Refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons; women and girls at risk of gender-based violence, trafficking and forced/child marriage; children, including out-of-school children and those recruited by armed groups; LGBTQ+ individuals (criminalised under Nigerian law); victims of human trafficking and forced labour; and persons targeted under counter-terrorism or armed-group dynamics in the North-East and Middle Belt.