Where do I even begin with this one sef?
Is it the early bow ties?
The nascent compère career that refused to blow?
The pioneering news magazine?
THISDAY?
South Africa?
The mega concerts?
The awards?
ARISE TV?
And now—lekeleke?
Abeg, I no even know where to start.
I have visited him at home only twice in my entire life, and both times—no food, no drink. Just vibes and long looks. It’s fine. He has earned the right to treat me anyhow. After all, he was known as The Duke long before I passed my secondary school exams.
He burst into the limelight as a dashing, handsome young publisher—media darling, sharply dressed, bow-tied, and confident. His first colourful news magazine made waves… and then disappeared. Years later, he returned—this time with THISDAY.
Ahhh. THISDAY.
That newspaper took the market by storm. It assembled what was, at the time, an unfair concentration of intellectual firepower. Dele Momodu (who I hear was the pioneering editor), Reuben Abati, Shaka Momodu, Segun Adeniyi, Simon Kolawole—should I go on?
In those days, a THISDAY columnist was a rock star.
Bus fare? Never.
Me? I came late to the party.
While we were still dancing inside the THISDAY bubble, oga pivoted—hard—into mega concerts. Beyoncé landed. Other global superstars followed. Nigeria collapsed into his pocket.
Then one day—boom—we saw Dr. Reuben Abati, Rufai Oseni, and Ijeoma Nwaguoguo on screen saying: “This is ARISE TV.”
And just like that, the media chessboard shifted again.
In all of this, Nduka Obaigbena has assumed mythical proportions. People speak of him in hushed tones. The way we used to say, “If you put your back on the wall and insult Fela’s mother, she will hear you.” That is how people talk about Nduka now.
Ahhh, he has something on everybody.
Ahhh, you don’t know him? Fear am o.
Ahhh, he cannot be shut down.
Every government fears him.
Then—out of what appeared to be pure spite—he began giving awards. And suddenly, all of Nigeria was fighting to attend.
Was it not his award that brought Toni Braxton, hugged one oga, and the naira crashed?
Was it not him that brought Diana Ross, then made himself MC—while Bovi, the official MC, stood there wondering about life?
In my estimation, there is no single day you step into Nigeria’s media space that Nduka Obaigbena is not influencing how you think—through THISDAY, ARISE, and now lekeleke, the social media platform he has unleashed to further ensnare us.
Some of us are willing underlings, learning at his feet.
His contemporaries engage him with respect.
His longevity on the power-and-influence scale continues to astonish everyone.
That Nduka Obaigbena is powerful and influential is not up for debate.
Just watch him enter an event in that signature blue up-and-down—which always makes me wonder whether his tailor is a bandit. Observe the room. People shift. Whispers start. Some stand and move toward him. Some tell their wives, “Wait, he will greet me.” Others—like me—rush forward and almost prostrate.
And then the President of the Republic will say,
“Nduka, your people are abusing me o.”
Prince Nduka Obaigbena was born on July 14, 1959, in Ibadan, Nigeria, and is a Prince of the Owa Kingdom in Delta State.
He attended Edo College, Benin City, and studied at the University of Benin. He later completed executive programmes at the Graduate School of Business, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and the Advanced Management Programme, University of Cape Town.
He founded THISDAY Newspapers in 1995, serving as Editor-in-Chief, and later founded ARISE News in 2013, a global television network broadcasting African perspectives from studios in London, New York, Johannesburg, Abuja, and Lagos.
He established the THISDAY Awards in 2000, recognising excellence in politics, business, education, and public service.
He contested for the Nigerian Senate in 1991 and was a member of Nigeria’s Constitutional Conference (1994).
He is a regular moderator and speaker at the World Economic Forum, has served on the Nominating Committee for Young Global Leaders, and is Chairman of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), as well as the Nigerian Press Organisation, which brings together NPAN, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
Nduka Obaigbena is not just a media proprietor.
He is a force.
An institution.
A permanent presence in Nigeria’s power architecture.
Thank you.
Nduka Obiagbena’s enty in the Maddtimes Power list Coffee table
Last modified: January 24, 2026
