How My Dad Died —Peter Obe’s Son

•The late Obe

•The late Obe

•The late Obe
•The late Obe

Eldest son of ace photojournalist, Peter Oyeyemi Obe, who died Sunday, 1 September, Femi Obe, has recounted his father’s last moments.

The younger Obe told P.M.NEWS that his father had been nursing a sore throat a couple of weeks before his death.

He said the veteran photo-journalist responded to medical treatment and his condition had improved, and then his condition suddenly relapsed.

He said his father’s relapse was shocking to the family and that he died in the hands of one of his sons, a medical doctor, named Afolabi.

“My father was diligent, proficient and loved challenges in the course of his fulfilling career,” he said.

Femi recalled some of the challenges which defined his father’s career. “I remembered when the Cocoa House in Ibadan was burning, we got the information around 10 p.m and he went to Ibadan that very night and got back around 2 a.m.  And the pictures were splashed on the front pages of the paper early that morning.”

Former Editor, Sunday Times, Tunde Awobiyi described the deceased as one of the  best the country ever produced, stating that “Nigeria has lost the best it ever produced in photography; Peter Obe was in a class of his own.”

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Also, the former Group Editor, Daily Times, Lawal Ogienagbon, said the late Obe was not a colleague, but his friend.

He said Obe was committed to his job and was friendly.

“He was extremely friendly and generous. There was no time he came to the newsroom without bringing anything for the people there, whether kolanuts or bitter kola.”

The deceased, who hailed from Igbaraoke, Southern senatorial district of Ondo State, died at 81 at his 31, Moronu Streeet, Surulere, Lagos home.

He had worked with the defunct Daily Times and, later with AFP and Reuters. He was one of the leading photo-journalists who covered the Nigerian Civil War, on which he did a book, titled Civil War Pictures From Nigeria: A Decade of Crisis In Pictures.

He is survived by five children, namely Femi, Dolapo, Folake (the only female), Gboyega and Afolabi.

—Folarin Ademosu

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