By Ayodele Fagbohun
Chief Adewole Atandeyi, renowned newspaperman and founder of the state-owned Owena Press Limited, publishers of The Hope newspapers and magazine, who died few days ago, at 92, was a thorough bred, top flight, and blue -chip bureaucrat in the old Ondo State public service.
He was a newspaper guru, and former director, Sketch Press Limited, Ibadan, now rested. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished! Ondo State, nay the entire nation has lost a rare gem!
A very humble, affable and likeable civil servant who rose from the rank to become the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, he built, and pioneered Owens Press Limited, publishers of The Hope titles, acclaimed as the redoubtable vanguard and impregnable flagship of the Southwest media.
To add to his laurel, Baba Atandeyi was an accomplished teacher of Journalism. He was the coordinator of the Diploma programme of Abuja Institute of Journalism, which the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, B-Zone facilitated in Ondo State .
The programme, which took off at the Ondo NUJ Press Centre, has been a huge success in the annals of training in the art and science of practical Journalism. The course was the first of its kind, and could be equated with the Higher Diploma (HND) Certificate.
Besides, Baba Atandeyi was a shrewd administrator par excellence, a House master of Okiti House in 1961 under the indefatigable principal of Anglican Grammar School, Chief Ruben Famuyide Fasoranti.
After a stint as a secondary school master at Anglican Grammar School Iju/Itaogbolu, Baba Atandeyi had a lucrative career in the Ondo State Civil Service where he carved a niche for himself as a distinguished professional journalist, who also excelled in public administration.
Baba Atandeyi and his amiable wife were two of a kind as mutual devotees of the only living God at St. Thomas Anglican Church, Isinkan, Akure.
On the 24th February, 2026, dramatically Baba at 92 died in his sleep. May his gentle soul rest with the Lord Jesus Christ until the resurrection day! Amen!!
