Abdul Imoyo, the man who became a model in corporate communications circles for his handling of enquiries and infomercials for Access Bank Group, has died.

Peoples Gazette saw a family statement that said Mr Imoyo died on Sunday after being treated briefly for a condition at First Cardiology Hospital, Lagos, leaving behind his wife and children.

“It is with deepest sorrow that we inform you of the death of our beloved husband, father, brother and uncle, Abdul Kolawole Imoyo, who went to be with the Lord in the early hours of December 17, 2023, after a brief illness,” his brother, Tunde Imoyo, said in the statement. The bank has yet to issue a statement as of Sunday evening, but The Gazette was reliably told Mr Imoyo had passed on, with colleagues profusely mourning his demise.

Mr Imoyo was a newspaper editor in Lagos before joining Access Bank in 2014, according to his online profile, where he worked closely with the bank’s top chief Herbert Wigwe. He handled corporation communications for the frontline financial services group.

Mr Imoyo was a favourite of media practitioners for his prompt response to media enquiries and dexterity in fostering commercial relationships with business departments across several media outlets, including The Gazette.

“He was almost unique when it came to getting a timely and useful response for stories about his organisation,” said Emmanuel Okeke, a newspaper editor in Lagos. “Hearing that such a thoroughbred professional died suddenly without any previous signs of terminal ailments made it even more tragic.”

Mr Okeke said even when a media report struck nerves at the company’s headquarters, Mr Imoyo had mastered the art of acceptance, recognising that journalistic duty must be carried out for the overall benefit of society — a purpose greater than his assignment at a white-shoe banking institution.

“He became a teacher to the corporate communications departments of other institutions, mostly in Lagos,” Mr Okeke added. “The vacuum his death created would endure for a while.”

Mr Imoyo studied at Lagos State University, graduating in 2002. He later obtained his MBA from the University of Lagos, promptly joining a business newspaper in Lagos, where he worked for about five years before joining the United Bank of Africa as a corporate communications officer. He moved from there to Access Bank.

In a 2021 interview, Mr Imoyo recognised his role as a media manager, saying journalism has become a round-the-clock duty for its practitioners, a reality that is rarely acknowledged by many spokespeople, whose treatment of journalists is often indistinguishable from disdain.

“I work around the clock,” Mr Imoyo said. “Because, these days, journalism, I don’t know if it ever sleeps, is more now like round-the-clock kind of, there is print, TV, radio, there is online news on the go and others.”

In turn, he also earned solace in the amiable manner with which he was treated by the media, which he did not hold back in the interview conducted by journalist Susan Awobiye.

“The job is exciting and interesting in the sense that, given my background, first and foremost, I’m a journalist, so I think I enjoyed a lot of goodwill from my colleagues out there,” he said.