Patrick Dele Cole, historian, diplomat and champion of an independent press, dies at 86
The Cambridge-trained historian reshaped the Daily Times in the 1970s, advised Obasanjo on foreign affairs and served as Nigeria's ambassador to Brazil and Argentina.
PANM — Patrick Dele Cole, the Nigerian historian, diplomat and journalist, has died in London aged 86, BusinessDay reports.
A life in brief
- Born on 4 August 1940 in Abonnema, in the Kalabari Kingdom of today's Rivers State, he studied at the University of Otago in New Zealand and at Cambridge, where he was a fellow of King's College and earned a doctorate in history. He was later a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
- In 1975 he became a director of the Daily Times, then partly taken over by the government. He introduced an editorial board on the American model, separating the paper's institutional opinions from the editor, and backed editors against official pressure.
- From 1999 to 2007 he was special adviser on international relations to President Olusegun Obasanjo, and he served as Nigeria's ambassador to Brazil and Argentina.
- In the early 1990s he emerged as a presidential hopeful with the Social Democratic Party, before the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. He later sat on The Guardian's editorial board.
In his words
Cole believed journalists must hold power to account. "Saying 'no' to the person who employs you isn't a sin. It's a blessing," he said. On public finances: "austerity isn't a bad word. Waste is." At his 86th birthday in August he urged young Nigerians to embrace discipline, service and strong values.
His wife, Mina Dugoabere Cole, died in 2021. His son, Tonye Cole, co-founded the Sahara Group.
Source: BusinessDay, reporting by Faith Omoboye, 17 October 2026.
