Dotun: The relentless storyteller who became the story

The news reached Semiu Okanlawon through a late-night phone call, delivered in the blunt words, “Semiu, Wahala ti wa o (there is problem!).” The caller, Mojeed Jamiu, had heard that Dotun Samson Oladipo was dead.

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Semiu, Wahala ti wa o (there is problem!)

For several minutes, Okanlawon writes, neither side could speak. He had just been focused on the reported death of American country music star Dolly Parton when the call about his friend came through. He struggled to process it, then ran to tell his wife. She initially resisted the news, pointing to a broadcast from Oladipo that had reached her phone at 2.50 p.m. that day.

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Daddy, you have a call.

A call to Gabriel Akinadewo, publisher of Freedom Online, confirmed the death. Oladipo had died suddenly a few hours earlier while driving himself to see his doctor. Okanlawon describes trying to reconstruct his friend’s final movements, from the office to the bank and then toward the hospital, but says he has abandoned those questions because they may never bring an answer that eases the loss.

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That cannot be true! Who gave you that news? See, this is his broadcast that came to my phone at 2.50 p.m. today.

The grief extends beyond a friendship. Oladipo’s journalism career took him through Newswatch, The PUNCH, The Sun, The Nigerian Tribune and The Compass. He later established The Eagle Online. Okanlawon says he left an indelible impression on the people he encountered at each organisation, helping explain why his death has cast such a heavy pall over Nigeria’s media industry.

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Dotun is dead!