Veteran journalist and diplomat Ambassador Dele Cole has died at the age of 86.
Cole reportedly handed away on the morning of Saturday, 17 October 2026, in line with household sources.
He was a former managing director of the Daily Times, considered one of Nigeria’s main newspaper organisations. He later served the nation as ambassador to Argentina and Brazil.
Born on August 4, 1940, in Abonnema, within the Kalabari Kingdom of present-day Rivers State, Cole had a protracted educational journey that took him to establishments in Nigeria, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
He started his early schooling at St Bartholomew’s School in Enugu, the place he studied from 1946 to 1953. He later attended Baptist High School in Port Harcourt between 1954 and 1958 earlier than continuing to Ibadan Grammar School, the place he studied from 1959 to 1960.
In 1962, Cole travelled to New Zealand to additional his schooling at the University of Otago in Dunedin, the place he remained till 1965.
He continued his research at the University of Cambridge within the United Kingdom from 1966 to 1970. He subsequently grew to become a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, from 1970 to 1973 and earned a doctorate in historical past.
Cole’s profession within the media included his appointment as a non-executive director of the Daily Times in 1975. He later rose to change into the newspaper’s managing director, serving to to ascertain his repute in Nigeria’s journalism business.
Beyond journalism, he additionally performed a job in public service and worldwide relations. Between 1999 and 2007, he served as Special Adviser on International Relations to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
His diplomatic profession additionally noticed him signify Nigeria as ambassador to Brazil and Argentina, strengthening his involvement within the nation’s international relations.
Cole was additionally lively in politics throughout the Nineteen Nineties, when he was related to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
