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By Barth Ikiebe.
The Nigerian Press Council has expressed deep sorrow over the passing of another media icon and veteran editor, Mr. Lewis Obi.
In a statement by the Council’s Director, Research and Documentation, Mr. Dan Ede, in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the Council, Dr. Dili Ezughah, says “Nigerian journalism has lost one of its finest and most decorated practitioners”.
Dr. Ezughah was quoted as saying that Mr. Obi was not just a consummate professional and wordsmith, he was also a media trainer and mentor.
“Intelligent, knowledgeable, courageous, refined and diplomatic, Mr.Lewis Obi spoke the truth to power back in the days of military dictatorship, in a trenchant language couched in elegant prose”, Dr. Ezughah noted.
Mr. Obi, who started his journalism career in the Daily Times, rose to become the founding Editor, Editor -in- Chief and Managing Director
of the defunct African Concord magazine.
The Executive Secretary lamented that the vacuum created by his demise would take time to be filled.
While praying for eternal repose of the soul of the veteran journalist, Dr. Ezughah condoled with his immediate family, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the country’s media industry at large.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian media community is mourning the death of Mr. Lewis Obi, whose career left a lasting imprint on modern Nigerian journalism.
He was 77 years old.
Lewis Obi, a native of Amurri in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, was educated at Methodist Central School, Agbani, and earned a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, where he was a distinguished student of the late communications scholar Professor Alfred Opubor.
He rose to prominence as a star features writer at the Daily Times before being recruited by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola to join the Concord Group as Features Editor of National Concord.
He later became founding editor, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of African Concord, one of the group’s flagship weekly magazines.
Under his leadership, African Concord emerged as a major platform for investigative and analytical journalism during Nigeria’s years of military rule. His editorial work brought him into direct confrontation with state authorities, forcing him into exile in the United States after a period of intense repression.
Renowned as a mentor with a keen eye for talent, Obi nurtured many of Nigeria’s leading journalists and public intellectuals, leaving behind a legacy defined by courage, literary excellence and professional generosity.
Lewis Obi is survived by his wife and children.
