MKO Abiola’s Widow, Doyin, Dies At 82 Years

By Akinwale Kasali

The Media Industry is in mourning. One of its own, Doyin Abiola, a widow of Chief Moshood Abiola, winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, Presidential Election, is dead.

An accomplished Journalist, Doyin was the first woman to be appointed the Editor-in-Chief/  Managing Director  of a national newspaper –  defunct Concord Newspapers which was founded by her late husband.

According to family sources, she passed at about 9:15pm on Tuesday, August 5, due to old age related issues. She was 82 years old.

Doyin was a media powerhouse in her own right long before her name became linked to Nigeria’s  democratic martyr.

She began her journalism foray in 1969 at the Daily Sketch, where her popular column “Tiro” tackled major societal issues including gender advocacy at a time when few dared.

In 1970, she left for the United States, bagged a master’s degree in journalism, and returned home to join Daily Times as a Features Writer. There, she rose to become Group Features Editor, and later secured a PhD in Communications and Political Science from New York in 1979.

On her return, she served on the Daily Times Editorial Board, where she worked alongside greats like Dele Giwa, Stanley Macebuh, and Amma Ogan.

But history would come calling when the National Concord, owned by MKO Abiola, appointed her as its pioneer Daily editor. She eventually became Managing Director/ and Editor-in-Chief in 1986, and thus, the first Nigerian woman to hold such a top role in a national daily.

Her career at the National Concord spanned three decades, and she remained a towering figure in Nigeria’s media landscape.

She got married to the business mogul in 1981, and she stood firm through the highs of journalism and the political storms that trailed her husband’s June 12 Presidential mandate. She and Abiola had a daughter together.