Why does his death heavily cast a pall on the Nigerian media industry? It is not only because Dotun’s journalism career took him in turns to Newswatch, The PUNCH, The Sun, The Nigerian Tribune and The Compass, after which he established The Eagle Online. The incontestable testimony is that as he crossed through these media organisations, he left indelible impressions in the minds of those he encountered along the way.
Today is Tuesday, exactly one week that death, like a night thief, sneaked in and snatched away my friend, Dotun Samson Oladipo.
One week after, I seem to have some strength today to punch the keyboard for these lines; having been emotionally drained by this cruel pang of separation.
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It was the passing of the legendary American country music star, Dolly Parton at the age of 84 to which I was paying attention late on the night of Tuesday, 25 August. Nothing prepared me that a more hard-hitting tragedy had just taken place and was lurking around the corner to end the day for me in the most callous manner.
A few minutes after calling the attention of NPO Reports’ Newsroom to the death of Dolly Parton and dropping the phone, it was my son who called my attention to another incoming phone call.
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“Daddy, you have a call.” To which I asked, “Who is that?”
“MJ,” he said, making me stretch out my hand to pick the phone and answer Mojeed Jamiu, the chief executive officer of Upshot Media, publishers of Upshot Reports.
“Semiu, Wahala ti wa o (there is problem!),” were the unexpected words that rang out from the other end.
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I asked what he meant.
“I heard Dotun is dead!”
For some minutes I can’t really recall now, a pin-drop silence ensued from both ends, even when the call was still active. Something in me seemed to have ceased; my head entwined in a whirlwind of some sorts. I struggled to say something, the words did not come. Then, the phone, seemingly becoming heavier than its usual weight, dropped off my hands.
When I recovered from what may now pass for a trance, I ran out of the room, called my wife who was still downstairs.
“Dotun is dead!”
Jolted by the sad news, she raced upstairs screaming in the dead of the night, shattering its serenity as she stretched out her hand to show me Dotun’s last news broadcast on her phone.
“That cannot be true! Who gave you that news? See, this is his broadcast that came to my phone at 2.50 p.m. today,” she said, collapsing on the chair.
Then, a call to our friend, Gabriel Akinadewo, publisher of Freedom Online was all we both needed to be sure that, indeed, Dotun passed suddenly a few hours before then, while driving himself to see his doctor.
I have struggled to picture what went wrong. I have tried to construct his movements from the office to the bank, and then at what point did he realise he needed to drive straight to the hospital. I have abandoned the questioning. We may never get answers that assuage.
Yes! Sudden deaths are not strange. But that of Dotun came with some rudeness no one is able to explain.
Dotun woke up normally on Tuesday, 26 August, as Ayaba (his wife) would later tell me when I finally got to his house early on the morning of Wednesday. They went to the gym, as was their routine, and returned home. Then, each went in their different directions for the day’s tasks, with Dotun being in his office till about 4 p.m., when he told his staff he was going out but would be back shortly. He never returned. That happened to be his final exit from that office.
Why does his death heavily cast a pall on the Nigerian media industry? It is not only because Dotun’s journalism career took him in turns to Newswatch, The PUNCH, The Sun, The Nigerian Tribune and The Compass, after which he established The Eagle Online. The incontestable testimony is that as he crossed through these media organisations, he left indelible impressions in the minds of those he encountered along the way.
Our path crossed at The PUNCH in 2002. And every testimony I might recall in this piece will surely re-affirm what you have all read from those who encountered this rare human specimen of goodness. Forget about official statements from governments and those in high stations. Read through the emotional, pain-laden tributes of very close professional colleagues, alumni of the schools he attended, workplace acquaintances, fellow church worshippers, neighbours and his staff. I am in search of a human who is likely to have some unsavoury tales to tell about Dotun. I don’t know where I would find one.
As I read the stories of Dotun being told in this past one week, I cannot but recall the energy imbued in this relentless storyteller.
My friend told stories of sports, he told stories of politics. He told stories of crime. He told stories of love. And above all, he told stories of humanity.
The irony is this. Ayaba told me on Wednesday that Dotun, challenged by his family over his ‘marriage’ to media storytelling a few weeks ago, said he was already fantasising about his retirement period, when he hoped to drop endless works and plan holidays for himself and the family. The plans evaporated with him on that black Tuesday.
Now, what do I say of Dotun in personal experience?
About February 2006, I was involved in a very serious auto-crash somewhere in Osun state while returning from an official assignment as Dotun’s then deputy on the Politics Desk of The PUNCH.
I had spent the night at a police station in Ede. But it was a huge surprise to see Dotun arrive at the police station at about 9 a.m. apparently having left Lagos very early to attend to issues relating to that accident. His commitment to the welfare of others was legendary.
Scores of others recall similar instances of selfless engagements, all in the bid to ease the affairs of others.
Those who say Dotun would always look after his friends are just factual. Amidst professional colleagues, he remained the go-to guy who solved innumerable complex situations for others.
Dotun’s Eagle Online came alive in 2011, barely a year after I went live with the Nigeria Politics Online, which metamorphosed into today’s NPO Reports. But he, with all the muscles he could afford, pushed for the acceptance of online journalism, encouraging all of us to put heads together in ensuring that a digital publication is taken as seriously as other conventional newspapers from where most of us branched out.
Thus, his leadership of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, the umbrella body of online publishers, saw to laying those solid foundations and rules that would ensure respect for all the ethics that govern what has been known over the ages as journalism.
Not one to keep opportunities to himself, beneficiaries of his large heart abound within the industry who testify to how he was the angel facilitating their inroads to some opportunities.
Now that Dotun is no more, what happens to The Eagle Online? That is his sweat, his idea, his energy and his all. That legacy must not die. And all those who knew how Dotun gave his all to that digital news platform owe him a duty to chip in one idea or the other how to keep the site telling stories.
Semiu Okanlawon is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of NPO Reports, Lagos.
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