...Johnson, Oyebode, Olaosebikan, Tunji, Rasheed pay tributes
By RhemDy News
The Nigeria's media community has been thrown into mourning following the demise of Mr Dotun Oladipo, the publisher and managing editor of Eagle Online.
Report of Mr Oladipo's passage flooded the social media space in the early hours of Wednesday, resulting in media personalities expressing shock.
The respected journalist reportedly died on Tuesday in Lagos at an hospital where he had driven himself hours earlier after taking ill at work.
He was aged 56.
The president of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Danlami Nmodu, confirmed the death of the former president of the organisation on the their WhatsApp platform on Tuesday.
“It has just been confirmed that Emeritus President, Mr Dotun Oladipo, died today.May his soul rest in peace. Amen.”
Colleagues mourn
Media strategist and Chief Operating Officer of Strategic Outcomes Limited, Mr Bamidele Johnson, expressed pain.
"This is pain. Real pain. Excruciating, bewildering pain. My mind keeps trying to reconstruct those last moments marked by the discomfort, pain, horror, helplessness and resignation.
"I keep wondering what came first. Or perhaps they did not come one after another at all. Maybe they came all at once and in one terrible, unbearable moment. That thought has sat in my head like silt since last night.
"The harder I try to make a sense of it, the more it makes no sense. My mind is racing, but not throwing up answers. Things are coming at me, but only in fragments. Many questions have been met with silence where there should be an explanation.
"I am just so mixed up. Dotun Samson Oladipo, why? Why?Why? This isn't stacking up. Not even one bit. The best tend to leave early. You wonder why. Maybe there are no explanations. Not sure I am making any sense. This is so mind-scrambling".
Also, Special Adviser on Media to Ekiti State Governor, Olayinka Oyebode, paid glowing tribute to the deceased. Sounding poetic, he wrote, "Goodnight “Big DOT”, my dear brother and friend.
"You were that big brother I needed so much in those early and turbulent days at the Punch.
"And you came through for me.
Even long after our days at Onipetesi, you were always coming through for me - freely offering me your platforms and counsel.
Always watching out for me.
Gentle, amiable, brilliant, deep, loving, caring, brotherly and highly professional, you were.
"A devoted father, family man and champion of good causes you were.
It is hard to say goodbye, DOT.
Rest well bro, till we meet to part no more".
Also, the Chief Executive of Midas Communication, Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan, expressed sadness of the demise of the renowned journalist.
In a Facebook post titled: 'I Lost A Brother, A Supporter And A Genuine Defender,' the media entrepreneur described the deceased as someone "very dear to my heart. He did not just like me, Dotun believed so much in me. He stood with me in all my battles and celebrated me at the slightest opportunity.
"At the Vanguard event, I insisted that Jide Ajani take the photograph of the two of us as he was hurriedly leaving the venue. Jide did. It was the last picture I took at the event and probably the last taken of him before his demise.
"My genuine defender, my great supporter, my dear brother has gone. May the Almighty grant repose to the soul of Dotun Oladipo. May He also grant his wife, Taiwo, his children and the entire family the fortitude to bear this huge loss. Rest in peace, Dotun".
Similarly, Bolaji Tunji, the spokesperson to the immediate-past Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, also paid his tribute.
"This is shocking. Gangling Dotun Ladipo, The Eagleonline Publisher, an easy going man, with a shy-like smile is gone. This is really devastating. Totally, unexpected", he wrote.
In the same vein, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, the spokesman of Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke described the passing of Oladipo as devastating.
"Dotun, my dear brother. Rest in Peace. This is really devastating", Mallam Rasheed wrote.
This newspaper cannot confirm that cause of the Eagle Online's founder's death as at the time of writing this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment