One of Ghana's leading journalists Ibrahim Sannie Daara made an emotional exit from the BBC on Tuesday night in London after eight years with the global broadcaster.Â
The Ghanaian hack, who is known for his excellence in sports reporting, met the corporation's bosses on Tuesday to finalise his exit.
Bosses of the British broadcaster were in full praise of his work as he was also a popular figure with his colleagues.
He is expected to return to his home country to work.
Sannie worked on the BBC's Africa Football website as well as radio programmes Fast Track, Focus on Africa and Network Africa's sports segments.
The highlight of his BBC career came in three years ago when he scooped the Foreign Press Association Media award (FPA Media Awards), beating competition from other international journalists.
The investigation he carried out with two of his colleagues exposed conmen masquerading as agents in African football.
The FPA award is seen as the crowning achievement of any journalist's career.
Sannie was also commentator for the opening and final matches at the first World Cup in Africa which was held in South Africa in 2010.
He joined the BBC in 2004 after working with Choice FM in Accra and also as the Ghana correspondent for South African broadcaster SABC TV Africa.
He has secured exclusive interviews with leaders in world football from FIFA president Sepp Blatter, CAF boss Issa Hayatou and UEFA president Michel Platini, Jose Mourinho as well as German legends Franz Benkenbauer and Lothar Matthaus.
The Ghanaian has also interviewed almost all of Africa's top players of the present and past generations including George Weah, Abedi Pele, Samuel Eto'o, Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien, Emmanuel Adebayor, Amr Zaki, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure and many many others.
Sannie gained international prominence in 2001 when his personal appeal to FIFA earned Ghanaian goalkeeper Sumaila Abdallah the FIFA Fair Play Award for saving an opponent's life during a game through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
While reporters and fans rushed home to watch a UEFA Champions League game on television immediately after the infamous match between arch-rivals Hearts of Oak and Kotoko, Sannie stayed behind to discover the gory sight.
He broke the news on radio with a brief report before joining the few fans at the stadium to give first aid to the injured and helped to evacuate the dead as the emergency services delayed in arriving.
Sannie holds a masters degree in International Journalism from the prestigious Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.