Tell Magazine

Tell Magazine is a weekly magazine published in Nigeria. In 2007, BBC News described it as "one of Nigeria's most respected business magazines".

Foundation

Tell magazine published its first edition on 15 April 1991. All five of the founding editors had worked at Newswatch, where they learned to create in-depth, investigative feature stories. They left that magazine due to low pay and disagreements with senior management, hoping that the new magazine would be more fulfilling. Although the magazine's founders had high ambitions, they were not initially hostile to the government. However, they were determined to be free of government or political influence.

Babangida era

The magazine questioned whether General Ibrahim Babangida was sincere in saying he would hand over to a civilian government. The 2 May 1993 edition with headline "Transition: 21 Traps against handover" was seized, and had to be reprinted in tabloid format. Two more major seizures occurred before Babangida was forced from power in August 1993. In all, 500,000 copies were seized in the last four months of Babangida's rule. Tell's circulation rose to as many as 100,000 copies each week in the build-up to the June 1993 presidential election and in the subsequent confusion. Facing harassment from security forces, the magazine began printing underground in July 1993. On 15 August 1993 police raided the offices and arrested editor-in-chief Nosa Igiebor and editors Kola Ilori, Onome Osifo-Whiskey and Ayodele Akinkuoto. holding them for 12 days.