Nigerian Ambassador Dies At 86

Veteran journalist and diplomat Ambassador Dele Cole has died at the age of 86.

Cole reportedly died on Saturday morning, according to family sources.

He served as Managing Director of Daily Times before being appointed Nigeria’s ambassador to Argentina and Brazil. He also worked as Special Adviser on International Relations to former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.

Cole was born on August 4, 1940, in Abonnema, in the Kalabari Kingdom of present-day Rivers State.

He began his education at St Bartholomew’s School, Enugu, where he studied from 1946 to 1953. He later attended Baptist High School in Port Harcourt from 1954 to 1958 and Ibadan Grammar School between 1959 and 1960.

In 1962, he travelled to New Zealand to study at the University of Otago in Dunedin, where he remained until 1965. He subsequently attended the University of Cambridge from 1966 to 1970.

Cole later became a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, serving between 1970 and 1973, and earned a doctorate in history.

In 1975, he was appointed a non-executive director of Daily Times, marking another stage in his career in journalism and media management.

He also participated in Nigerian politics and was associated with the Social Democratic Party during the 1990s.