By Akinwale Kasali
The National Body of the Sport Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN and the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, have been thrown into mourning following the death of Veteran and Versatile Sports Journalist, Kayode Tijani.
The Late Tijani died on Wednesday, February 7th 2024, at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, after a protracted illness.
His death came as a surprise to many of his colleagues, friends and families, as he was consistently a guest at Television Stations, analyzing the ongoing African Cup of Nations championship in Côte d’Ivoire.
The Nigerian Institute of Journalism, NIJ, graduate began his sports journalism career at Complete Communications Limited, Publishers of Complete Football magazine and Complete Sports newspapers in the late 1980s.
Thereafter, he worked for many years as the pioneer Sports Editor of FAME magazine, a society publication, before travelling to England where he was a correspondent and sports presenter for an Afrocentric television station, BEN TV.
On his return to Nigeria, Kayode set up a private media outfit, ‘Sport Xclusive,’ which he ran as a sports producer and visual content consultant. He was renowned for his rich library of historical videos on Nigerian and African sports heroes and heroines which he put at the disposal of government establishments and private companies.
On several occasions, he worked with major television stations including the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and the African Independent Television (AIT) to cover international sports events by providing rare footage to enhance their presentation. He also collaborated with private broadcast companies to produce TV commercials and sports documentaries.
In 1995, Kayode teamed up with two other colleagues to launch ‘Sportlight,’ a daily sports newspaper, which however was rested after only a few weeks. Amongst several volunteering works on national service, he was a member of the Organising Committee of the 8th All-Africa Games, “COJA Abuja 2003” hosted by Nigeria.
At the advent of Social Media in Nigeria, Kayode was very active in circulating timely sports news and information to his numerous followers on Facebook and “X” (formerly Twitter). Unfortunately, he had to scale down his Social Media activities on medical grounds when he took ill before he finally passed away on Wednesday.
Kayode will be buried according to Muslim rites on Thursday, 8 February 2024 at Atan Cemetery in Yaba, Lagos at 2.00pm.
He is survived by his wife, children, siblings and other relatives.
He will surely be missed by the Sporting World for his distinctive analysis, professionalism and his commitment to his job.
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