Famed African reporter reveals how he went from battling pirates and poverty to grilling Karine Jean-Pierre

African reporter Simon Ateba suffered a long road to industry success battling poverty and even pirates before moving to the U.S. and working in the White House briefing room.

Ateba shared highlights from his journey and lessons he's learned along the way during a special episode of Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today."

"When I heard that everything was great, I decided to travel from Cameroon to Nigeria by sea, and I was attacked by pirates on the Gulf of Guinea," Ateba told Carlson Tuesday.

While trying to travel from Cameroon to Nigeria, a small boat of pirates attacked the ship on which Ateba had been sailing. Noting pirates are common in that area, Ateba shared how they pulled out large guns and demanded passengers give them money and goods. 

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One of the pirates even held a gun to Ateba's head, the reporter said.

"That was the first time in my life that I thought, 'oh, my God, I'm going to die,'" he said. "You know, having a gun to your head, I thought this guy may pull the trigger. But eventually, the guy didn't pull the trigger."

After the near-death experience, Ateba acknowledged he had a "second chance" to make his life count.

"I decided to become who I really wanted to be, because I feel that I was given a second chance every time and I decided to really live life to the fullest. And that's how I ended up in the U.S."

Having grown up in poverty in Cameroon, Ateba told Carlson that his move from Africa to the U.S. was not without struggle. 

He lamented how he was unable to get a grant from the U.S. embassy in Nigeria to travel to America despite covering American politics for his African audience. 

"I'm back in Nigeria doing my stuff. I don't have money. Life is always tough. I'm covering the US embassy. They're giving grants to everybody except Simon. They are asking Simon every day to come and cover them and I feel like telling them, Don't you have eyes? I've been covering you for five years. I'm getting old. You guys are not giving me anything and giving things to people who can do anything. And I'm here. Don't you see?"

"I feel like all the money that comes from the U.S. to these countries don't actually go to the people who need it now, the people who do things that can even benefit the US," he observed. 

"I decided to take my life into my own hand and decided to move to the U.S. and work for Today News Africa."

Ateba's journey to the White House briefing room, however, was an uphill battle after coming to the U.S. Catch the special episode of Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today" to hear his full story. 

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