It is a dark day for the media in Nigeria today as Mr. Dimgba Uguru Igwe, consummate journalist, author, Vice Chairman of The Sun Publish­ing Ltd. and a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), is laid to rest in his Igbere, Abia State hometown. The killing of the outstanding writer by a hit-and-run driver on Septem­ber 6 had shocked the nation, and notable Nigerians are expected to join the cream of the Nigerian media to say their final goodbye to the departed media icon.
The killing of Igwe at the unripe age of 58 rudely terminated a glori­ous journalism career that blossomed at Concord Publishing Ltd. where he rose to the position of Deputy Editor of the soar-away Weekend Concord before berthing at The Sun Publishing Ltd., where he was the pioneer Deputy Managing Director/Deputy Editor-in-Chief, before he became Vice Chairman. His managerial prowess led to the roaring success of The Sun newspaper group.
Igwe was a passionate journalist and a cerebral writer. He co-authored a number of books, among them, The Art of Feature Writing, Nigeria’s Marketing Memoirs and 50 Nigeria’s Corporate Strategists. He died less  than a week after a brilliant outing at the Nigerian Guild of Editors 2014 confer­ence in Katsina, the Katsina State capital. His robust interventions at the occasion illuminated the way for professional me­dia practice and conduct. It is, indeed, an irony that he died barely a week later.
Igwe’s untimely passage has elicited torrents of eulogies and encomiums from his colleagues and many notable Nigeri­ans. President Goodluck Jonathan, in a moving tribute, praised the sterling quali­ties of the late journalist, especially “his ability to convey the truth and his convic­tions in lucid, compelling prose and in a style that was short of cant and foppery.” A number of state governors have also visited his family and commiserated with The Sun Publishing Ltd. on his demise.
Igwe was a god-fearing man whose hu­mility and belief in fairness, equity and justice have been attested to by many of those who knew him. He was the Deputy General Overseer of Evangel Pentecostal Church, Okota, Lagos, where his lead­ership role and deep commitment to the things of God have been attested to by the church authorities.
The death of Dimgba Igwe has again exposed the sorry state of the medical sector in the country. He could not ac­cess a surgeon for badly-needed surgical intervention until about four hours after he was hit by a car. Sadly too, no prog­ress has been made in the search for his killer. His killing while jogging on a road near his house also signposts the dearth of sporting arenas in the country. There were also no Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras which could have made the identification and apprehen­sion of his killer easier. We, therefore, call on the federal and state governments to intensify their efforts on the provision of modern security gadgets especially at flashpoints and trouble spots to deter crime.
Igwe left indelible footprints in Nige­rian journalism. He was a regular and worthy representative of the profession at the annual World Conference of Editors. His flawless writing shone in his weekly column in Daily Sun, Side View, through which he engaged ordinary Nigerians and the country’s leaders on the issues of the day. His establishment and manage­ment of successful publishing outfits, ho­listic professionalism, associational ac­tivism, compelling analyses and seminal explications of national and international issues attest to his newspaper managerial sagacity. His translation is, indeed, a loss not just to the pen fraternity but the entire humanity.
Suddenly, Igwe’s demise has created a yawning vacuum. It has sadly dimin­ished the lean clan of senior journalists who have a passion for mentoring junior colleagues. He, indeed, practised journal­ism and taught younger colleagues as if his life and the continued survival of the profession rested on his shoulders. His kind of versatility and passionate devo­tion to the business of communication are rare to come by. He was one of the best brains in Nigerian journalism and there is no doubt that, in his death, the Nigerian media, the country and the world lost one of the most acclaimed and finest gentle­men of the Press.
Igwe will always be remembered most­ly for his diligence, dependability, super­lative professionalism, devotion to truth, service to humanity, intellectualism, reli­giosity, defence of public interest, advo­cacy for the enthronement of best prac­tices in the journalism profession and best standards in spiritual matters, irre­spective of denominational inclinations.
We commiserate with the wife, chil­dren and family of the late Mr. Igwe on his most shocking demise. We also grieve with the media and the entire country on the painful exit of this remarkable media professional. May God grant us all the fortitude to bear the loss. We are, how­ever, consoled by the fact that the out­standing life of the departed will never be forgotten.
May the soul of Dimgba Igwe, The Sun Vice-Chairman; Deputy General Over­seer of Evangel Pentecostal Church; existential humanist; seasoned journal­ist; trailblazer and literary giant, rest in peace. The greatest tribute Nigerians can pay to Igwe is to ensure that his dreams for a new Nigeria materialize in no dis­tant time.

Dimgba Igwe: A painful goodbye