Dokpesi: An Impactful Life
From Agenebode, Edo State to Ibadan, Oyo State capital, before the sojourn in Poland and the political adventure in Yola, Adamawa State in the early eighties, the late Dr Raymond Dokpesi, as I wrote in the blurb to his memoir last year, lived according to the timeless injunctions of Misty Gibbs: He was bold, he took risks, and was perpetually on the move. It was therefore with sadness that I heard about his death on Monday.
Although we had been ‘neighbours’ for more than a decade, I had no relationship with Dokpesi. But two things happened in the last three years. First, his wife and African Independent Television (AIT) Managing Director, Mrs Oluwatosin Dokpesi took special interest in the free education project for indigent children (Not Forgotten Initiative) of my wife and has been rendering invaluable support. And then two years ago, I was approached by two respected senior colleagues, Messrs Bayo Bodunrin and Okoh Aihe to help read through the draft of their authorised biography of Dokpesi, ‘The Handkerchief’. It was a task I accepted without hesitation. The hefty cheque that accompanied the letter of appreciation that followed from Mrs Dokpesi indicated that the late DAAR Communications chairman knew about my intervention. Thereafter, Dokpesi called me to initiate what became a friendship until he died.
Despite the circumstances of birth and the travails of formative years, Dokpesi rose against all odds
to accomplish so much in 71 years. Not only did he pioneer private radio and television stations in Nigeria, but he was also one of the first persons to venture into indigenous shipping line on the continent with ‘Africa Ocean Line’. And he was barely 30 at the time. I commiserate with his family. May God grant him eternal rest.