Just In: Veteran Communication Scholar Idowu Sobowale Dies At 85

A renowned communication scholar and veteran member of Nigeria’s media and communication community, Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale, has died. It was gathered that the professor died at the age of 85 on Thursday.

A member of his family, Akinniyi Sowunmi, announced this in a statement titled “Transition to Glory,” on Thursday.

Sowunmi described the death as a major loss to the communication community, particularly members of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals in Nigeria.

He wrote, “This is a very sad day for us in the Communication Community in Nigeria and especially for us at the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals in Nigeria. Our father, Pa Deacon Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale, OON, 85, joined the saints triumphant this morning, October 8, 2026. Details of his funeral rites to be announced by the family soon.”

Professor Idowu Akanbi Sobowale was born on 4th January 1941, in Ashipa near Abeokuta, to a peasant farmer and a petty trader mother. He was a farmer and apprentice mechanic in his first twelve years. It was not until January 1954 that he first saw the four walls of a classroom.

He later attended the University of Lagos, where he received a Diploma and BA (HONS) degree in mass communication. In 1975, he left the Daily Times to join the University of Lagos as an assistant lecturer in the Institute of Mass Communication. A year later, he left for Syracuse University, USA, for his master’s degree but returned in 1978 with a PhD degree, specialising in Precision or Scientific Journalism.

He was appointed a Professor of Journalism by the Lagos State University, which he helped to establish in 1983. Prof. Sobowale’s pioneering activities, amongst others made the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to award him the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger, (OON) during the Fourth Republic.