By Obinna Uballa
Yakubu Mohammed, co-founder of Newswatch magazine and its former deputy chief executive officer, has died at the age of 75.
Mohammed was said to have been battling an undisclosed ailment before his death. As at press time, the family had yet to issue an official statement.
His passing comes barely two months after the death of his long-time colleague and fellow Newswatch co-founder, Dan Agbese, who died after a prolonged illness on November 17, 2025, marking another major 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 reflected on the publication’s formative years. The book revisited defining moments in the magazine’s journey, including the controversy surrounding the 1986 assassination of founding editor-in-chief, Dele Giwa, and the ensuing struggle for control of the influential news magazine.
Mohammed co-founded Newswatch in 1984 alongside Agbese, Ray Ekpu and Giwa, helping to build it into one of Nigeria’s most authoritative platforms for investigative journalism during the military era.
Born on April 4, 1950, Mohammed was 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 between 1978 and 1979.
He began his journalism career at 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 served as 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.
The veteran journalist also served as pro-chancellor and chancellor of the governing council of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
