The death of a public intellectual: Patrick Dele Cole, 1940–2026, By Reuben Abati

Death is a fact of life, no living thing exists forever, not even nature itself, for it is written that even the best and the brightest, shall pass to the Great Beyond, to become one with Nature and the Grand Architect, to be remembered on this side of the Divide, thereafter by their deeds. And so here we are, in the past few days, in the communications and ideas community, mourning the passing of Patrick Dele Cole, known variously as P.D. Cole, or PDC, 1940 -2026, who died in London on October 17, 2026, at the ripe age of 86. He was a historian, administrator, newspaper columnist, an author, politician, a manager of resources, and one of the most outstanding figures in contemporary Nigerian journalism who lived a life of impact and influence and has now left behind a legacy and a leverage that shine luminously upon him beyond his own humble beginnings. 

His death coincides perhaps by accident with two other moments of remembrance in our industry: the death recently of Professor Idowu Sobowale on October 8, a retired Professor of Mass Communications at the University of Lagos, who along with other distinguished scholars at the University of Lagos, including Professor Alfred Opubor, Professor Frank Ugboaja, Professor Onuora Nwuneli, Dr Dele Ogunade, Professor Olatunji Dare, and Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, over the years trained generations of journalism and public relations practitioners in Nigeria. PD Cole also passed away two days to the 40^th anniversary of the mysterious death of Dele Giwa, whose writings were celebrated yesterday in Lagos with the publication of a collection of his writings titled “Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism”, edited by Mr. Ray Ekpu, another icon of the profession, the last surviving member of the famous quartet that established the Newswatch magazine. Dr. Patrick Dele Cole stood at the intersection between scholarship, journalism practice, and public intellectualism, and accordingly, some of the most important developments in Nigerian journalism for over three decades had his fingerprints directly or in the shadows, either by direct participation or by proxy or association. He was associated with both the Daily Times (1975 – 1979) and The Guardian Newspapers (from 1983 – 2026), two major organizations that formed the tap roots for much of everything else in the Nigerian media system.  Dr. Dele Cole will be remembered for the quality of his associations, his deep commitment to the institutions he served, and his contributions to deepening that essential interface between media, business, society and public service.

I met him at The Guardian newspapers where I practised journalism for over 21 years serving as member, editorial board and columnist, editorialist, essayist, deputy editorial page editor, deputy editorial board chairman, and eventually as editorial page editor/chairman, Editorial Board. Dr Cole was one of the father figures at The Guardian and a towering presence. He was a friend of the publisher, Mr. Alex Uruemu Ibru and a consultant to The Guardian Editorial Board in which capacity he was a regular presence and contributor to the newspaper’s editorial choices. When Mr. Ibru chose to set up a newspaper company in 1982, he had sought the advice of two of his friends – Chief Olusegun Osoba, a seasoned journalist, who had been editor of The Daily Times, and General Manager of The Herald Newspaper and Dr. Dele Cole, former Managing Director of The Daily Times who had also served in Nigeria’s Cabinet Office. Ibru had been advised by his elder brother, the wealthy and influential Chief Michael Ibru not to venture into a business that will throw him into conflict with authority and the firing range of Nigeria’s intolerant military government, but Ibru was motivated by the passion to publish a newspaper that would give voice to the downtrodden and the voiceless people of Nigeria. Osoba and P.D Cole encouraged him, and thus, The Guardian was born. Mr. Ibru had the resources to fulfil his dream. Osoba and Dele Cole recruited a team that had the capacity to build a newspaper that would be influential beyond Lagos, Mr. Ibru’s initial dream, rather, a newspaper that would be one of the best five in Africa written in the English language and definitely the best English language newspaper in Nigeria, and the West African sub-region. The newspaper surpassed the dreams of its founder. It became an institution. Its core team was made up of a tested editorial team from the Daily Times led by Mr, Lade Bonuola and Mr. Femi Kusa who manned the news production process and built a news war room that outmatched every other newspaper, and on the intellectual side, there was Dr. Stanley Macebuh, the liberal intellectual and prose stylist who built The Guardian into a better version of the Daily Times, an intellectual powerhouse that attracted the brightest writers and turned The Guardian Editorial Board into the equivalent of a first rate Faculty.  Dr. Dele Cole had a hand in building that Faculty and it is a measure of his commitment, that long after Mr. Ibru’s death, and the newspaper industry in Nigeria had turned South, he remained faithful.

For a proper appreciation of the place of Dr. Dele Cole in contemporary Nigerian journalism, we have to return to his journey into the industry. Born on August 4, 1940, in Abonnema, Kalabari Kingdom, in present-day Rivers State, he studied at St. Bartholomew’s School, Enugu (1946 -1953), Baptist High School, Port Harcourt (1954 -1958), and Ibadan Grammar School (1959 – 1960). He left Nigeria in 1962, on a Federal Government Scholarship to study at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, graduating with a First Class Honours in History in 1965. From 1966, he studied at the University of Cambridge, obtaining a Master’s in History and later a Ph..D in 1973. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, in 1969, and a Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge.  Upon his return to Nigeria, he served as an administrative officer in the Political Department of the Cabinet Office in Lagos. He distinguished himself so well at the Cabinet Office that when in 1975, the Murtala Muhammad administration decided to clip the wings of those it considered the irreverent journalists at the Daily Times, it chose to appoint Dr Cole as a non-executive director at the Daily Times, to oversee government’s interest, after the Federal Government had acquired 60% of the newspaper through NICON Insurance. By the way, the Nigerian government did not pay up its equity stake, it more or less seized the newspaper and its assets. Cole’s assignment was to check the boldness of the Daily Times and its editors. With Alhaji Babatunde Jose at its helm, the Daily Times had become a thorn in the flesh of the government. When Dele Cole arrived at the Daily Times, and was later appointed Managing Director in 1976, he did the very opposite of what he had been sent to do. 

He preserved Jose’s legacy and defended the freedom of the press, editorial independence and the rights of journalists. He protected the right of the newspaper to write its own editorials, and the right of journalists to protect their sources as exemplified by the decision in Momoh v. Senate, which became a cause celebre. Cole’s most memorable contribution at The Daily Times, however, was that he revolutionized the newspaper’s editorial board by attracting to the team, a group of heavily educated writers and thinkers. He brought in the likes of Dr. Stanley Macebuh, Dr. Doyin Aboaba (later Abiola) and writers like Dele Giwa. He re-organized the newspaper’s editorial board after the American model, separating it into a think-tank, separate from the newsroom, with a loud, authoritative voice. This approach changed the editorial structure in the Nigerian media system permanently, and this was the model that was introduced at The Guardian from the very beginning, and was further deepened to turn The Guardian into an academic forum that also catered to the interests of business and the public sector. There was no other newspaper of that character before The Guardian, which inherited the best of the Daily Times and transformed it.  When I arrived at The Guardian, I was a benefactor of what had already become an established tradition. Dr. Dele Cole was a major architect of that tradition.  He was a regular presence at our Editorial Board meetings. It was a deliberately diverse, well-resourced board of accomplished and tested, experienced figures, men of calibre who had seen it all, in and out of government, in various fields of human endeavour. They enriched editorial decisions, but nobody had the final say, not even the Chairman and Founder of the company, Mr Alex Ibru. Editorial decisions were built through consensus, guided by the policy to express an informed opinion, written in elegant language, upholding the principles of fairness, balance and justice to all concerned.

Dr Cole was the quintessential public intellectual and polymath. He knew Nigeria intimately because he had studied it, worked for it and had served it in various capacities for so long, he knew almost all the important people of his time, in and out of the corridors of power. He was a natural go-to person. He served on the Presidential Panel on the History of Nigeria since Independence (1977), Nigeria-China Forum (1979), and was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil and Argentina (1987 – 90).  He was actively involved in party politics, diplomacy, public service and public discourse. In the early 90s, he was one of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on whose platform he sought the Presidency before the initial entire primary election process of 1992 was cancelled by the Babangida government. He was later Deputy National Chairman, South-South of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), 1998 – 1999, and Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on International Relations (1999 -2001). He was a supporter of Chief MKO Abiola who eventually emerged as the SDP presidential candidate and winner of the aborted 1993 Presidential election, as he defended the people’s democratic choices and the right of minorities to co-exist and prosper within a federal system. The various tributes that have been paid to him speak to the scope and breadth of his influence, and the high regard in which he was held by everyone who was privileged to know him. Notably, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has declared seven days of mourning in his honour and in appreciation of his contributions to the socio-cultural and political development of the Niger Delta and his role in the formation and growth of PANDEF. President Olusegun Obasanjo whom he served in the Cabinet Office and later as Special Adviser on International Relations (1997 – 2007) describes him as “one of Nigeria’s finest intellectual pillars” and “a trusted ally whose counsel shaped pivotal moments in our nation’s history” and as “an indispensable linchpin of our foreign policy machinery…who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to repair Nigeria’s broken diplomatic ties…” . Governor of Rivers State, Simi Fubara says he is “a beloved elder statesman and a distinguished son of the soil”. Former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori describes him as “a steadfast advocate of the Niger Delta cause whose actions reflected deep loyalty to his roots”. Dr Charles Omole, says he was “an exceptional gentleman, a brilliant mind, a former boss, and a cherished friend.” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a personally signed tribute writes that Ambassador Dele Cole “witnessed defining moments in Nigeria’s history and contributed to the nation’s development through his work in the media, diplomacy and public service. His life stands as a testament to the value of experience, principled engagement and commitment to the public good.” 

Dr Cole wrote on various topics reflecting a catholic breadth, while reflecting on such issues as corruption, federalism, international affairs, youth unemployment, governance and the responsibilities, and he did this in a distinctive style, even till his last years as seen in such pieces in his column with the Vanguard Newspaper as  “The radicalization of political conflict” (February 24, 2020),  “Nigeria and the Rule of law” (April 6, 13, and 20, 2020), US military and Nigerian military (March 9, 17, 2020),  Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi and “Visions”  (August 4, 2020), “Where are the Nigerians?” (August 25, 2020), “Pay of the National Assembly Members” (September 8, 15, 2020), “Nigeria and abandoned projects (October 18, 2022), “Russia, Ukraine and war propaganda” (August 17, 2023) and in the Financial Times of London, “We have to track down the oil thieves” (July 23, 2022). He was also the author of Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos (1975) and Nigeria Since Independence: The First 25 Years: Politics and Constitutions (1989), in addition to introductions to books as well as articles in international journals. Beyond his writings, speeches, diplomacy and citizen engagements, Dr Cole was also a bridge builder who loved the good life. He, Dele Giwa, Stanley Macebuh and Yemi Ogunbiyi pioneered the gradual influx of intellectuals and academics into journalism and the trend of sartorial elegance in Nigerian journalism, to which he added a sassy touch with his ever-present big, Cuban cigars which more or less formed a part of his public persona. He was also an easy-going, approachable man who would call to discuss topical issues or provide useful guidance and he did so, literally, till his walking stick failed him. He has now transitioned to the Grand Lodge above after a lifetime of honour, hard work, impact, service and distinction in his earthly toils. He will be greatly missed. We celebrate him. Farewell, sir.