On the very day President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President, after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years tenure, the news of Chief Raymond Dokpesi’s death has cast dark cloud on the firmament of Nigeria.
Chief Dokpesi, a staunch Catholic is the man who pioneered private broadcasting in Nigeria with the establishment of Daar Communications. Information reaching our newsroom has it that he finally succumbed to the battle with ill-health, which he was said to have been battling with since April, when he reportedly went down with a stroke.
Dokpesi, 71, who was more pronounced in the media industry first with the Ray Power Radio station and thereafter African Independent Television (AIT), one of the leading television stations in Africa. He was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he campaigned, but lost the bid to become its National Chairman in 2016.
He was said to have died in an Abuja hospital after he suffered a stroke, after the recent Ramadan fast period, and was rushed to the hospital, where he had been managing his health under what was termed occupational therapy to improve his daily activities before his sudden death.
