‘Great loss to humanity’ – Tola Adeniyi mourns Newswatch co-founder Yakubu Mohammed

High Chief Tola Adeniyi (Jagun Oodua), veteran columnist, author and former Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria, has described the death of renowned journalist and media entrepreneur, Malam Yakubu Mohammed, as a profound loss to the Nigerian media industry and humanity at large.

In a tribute on Wednesday, Adeniyi lamented the passing of the 75-year-old journalism icon, noting that his death had left a deep void within the media community.

“The passage of the erudite scholar, media entrepreneur, columnist and author, Malam Yakubu Mohammed, at 75 is a great loss to the media world and to humanity,” Adeniyi said.

He recalled Mohammed’s immense contributions to journalism, noting that he was a former editor of the National Concord, a co-founder of the trailblazing Newswatch magazine and National Vice President of the League of Nigerian Columnists.

“Yakubu was a wonderful soul,” Adeniyi added. “May Allah accept his precious soul and comfort his family.”

Yakubu Mohammed, a co-founder of Newswatch magazine and its former deputy chief executive officer, reportedly died after battling an undisclosed illness. As of press time, the family had yet to issue an official statement on his passing.

His death comes barely two months after the demise of his long-time colleague and fellow Newswatch co-founder, Dan Agbese, who died after a prolonged illness on November 17, 2025, marking another significant loss to the magazine’s pioneering generation.

In October 2025, Mohammed published his memoir, Beyond Expectations, in which he chronicled the history of Newswatch and offered personal reflections on the magazine’s formative years. The book revisited defining moments in the publication’s journey, including the controversy surrounding the 1986 assassination of founding editor-in-chief, Dele Giwa, and the subsequent struggle for control of the influential magazine.

Mohammed co-founded Newswatch in 1984 alongside Agbese, Ray Ekpu and Giwa, helping to establish it as one of Nigeria’s most authoritative platforms for investigative journalism during the military era.

Born on April 4, 1950, Mohammed hailed from Ologba in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. He attended St Joseph’s Primary School, Ayangba, in 1964, Government Secondary School, Okene, between 1965 and 1969, and studied at the University of Lagos from 1972 to 1975. He later attended the Glasgow College of Technology in Scotland from 1978 to 1979.

He began his journalism career at the New Nigerian Newspapers, where he served as associate editor from 1976 to 1980 and managing editor in 1980. He later joined National Concord as deputy editor between 1980 and 1982, becoming editor from 1982 to 1984.

At Newswatch, Mohammed held several key positions, including co-founder and executive editor from 1984 to 1986, managing editor from 1986 to 1994, and deputy chief executive officer of Newswatch Communications Limited from 1994.

Beyond journalism, he was a director at Yadara Nigeria Limited and Lastop Limited, and a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association and the Nigerian Guild of Editors. He also served as pro-chancellor and chancellor of the governing council of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Tributes have continued to pour in from across the country, celebrating Mohammed’s legacy as one of the towering figures of Nigeria’s golden era of journalism.