Patrick Dele Cole, who led the Daily Times at a pivotal period in Nigerian journalism and later helped shape The Guardian, has died. He was 86.
Cole died on Oct. 17, 2026, in London, family sources said. President Bola Tinubu confirmed his death in a statement on Saturday.
Cole’s defining role in the media came in 1976 when he was appointed Managing Director of the Daily Times. The paper, then one of Africa’s largest, had just come under government control after the Murtala Muhammed administration acquired a majority stake.
Cole is credited with restoring its professional standing. Under his leadership from 1976 to 1980, the paper stabilized, strengthened its analytical reporting and re-established itself as a platform for national debate. He resisted pressure to turn it into a government mouthpiece, insisting journalists should report freely and hold power to account.
Cole was known as a talent scout. He recruited and brought back to Nigeria two of the most influential journalists of the era:
– Dele Giwa, who was working at the New York Times
– Stanley Macebuh, an academic and liberal thinker teaching in the United States
The appointments raised the intellectual quality of the newsroom.
He introduced popular features including the celebrated “Page 7,” literary reviews and other columns that expanded the paper’s appeal and depth.
Cole’s most enduring institutional contribution was the introduction of a formal Editorial Board at the Daily Times, modelled on the American system. The structure separated the formulation of the newspaper’s institutional opinions from day-to-day news reporting.
The model was successful and was later adopted by virtually every major Nigerian newspaper.
He applied the same approach at The Guardian after supporting its emergence in 1983, serving as a director and long-time member and consultant of its Editorial Board. His presence helped give the paper’s opinion pages intellectual weight.
Cole was seen as a bridge between academia and the newsroom. A Cambridge-trained historian with a doctorate, he brought scholarly rigour and structured thinking to Nigerian journalism at a critical period.
He demonstrated that journalism could be intellectually serious and commercially viable, even under political pressure.
Tinubu, in his tribute, highlighted Cole’s role in upholding the press’s duty to hold officials accountable and strengthen democratic governance.
Cole’s media legacy rests on three pillars: restoring the stature of the Daily Times, recruiting exceptional talent, and institutionalising the Editorial Board system that still shapes Nigerian newspapers. He is regarded as one of the key figures who helped professionalise and intellectualise Nigerian journalism in the late 1970s and beyond.
Beyond journalism, Cole served as Nigeria’s ambassador to Brazil and Argentina, represented Nigeria at the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity, and was a presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party in the early 1990s.