Obasanjo’s ex-spokeswoman and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Mrs. Remi Oyo, died on Wednesday in the United Kingdom, the deceased husband, Vincent Oyo, announced in a statement on Thursday.
She was aged 61.
“With gratitude to God for a life well spent, I regret to announce the death of my dear wife, Dame Felicia Oluwaremilekun Oyo. She died peacefully on Wednesday (October 1, 2014) in the United Kingdom where she was receiving treatment for a cancer-related ailment,” the statement read.
The deceased, made a Papal Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great on January 7, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI, was a seasoned journalist and a former Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2003 and 2007.
She was a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors where she served as the first female president. She was also a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management and the Institute of Public Administration of Nigeria.
She began her journalism career at the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria), rising to the post of Principal Editor before moving to the News Agency of Nigeria, where she served as the editor and pioneer head of the quality control desk.
For over a decade, the late Oyo served as Nigerian bureau chief for the Inter Press Service Global News Agency.
Born into a Catholic family, Oyo had her primary education at the St. James’ Catholic Primary School in Ilorin, where she grew up. She attended St. Louis Girls Secondary School, Bompai, Kano and had her higher education in Lagos and Britain.
President Goodluck Jonathan described Oyo’s death as saddening.
Reacting to the news on Wednesday, the President of the NGE, Mr. Femi Adesina, said “Nigerian editors have lost a pillar.”
“She was a pillar to Nigerian journalism and the Guild. She transformed the Guild and will always be remembered,’’ Adesina added.