Photographer ‘Okhai Ojeikere dies, aged 83

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere (1030-2014)

Veteran portrait and documentary photographer, J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere died in Lagos, yesterday, at the age of 83.

According to a member of the family, Ehiz Ojeikere, the photographer passed on quietly in the afternoon of February 2, 2014 after a brief illness.

Born in 1930, in Ovbiomu-Emai village, Owan-East Local Government of Edo State, Ojeikere, was trained in photography by a local photographer, Albert Anieke in Abakaliki, Enugu.

Between mid 1950s and 1961, he was a photographer with the then Ministry of Information, Western Region and Africa’s premiere television station, Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) Ibadan.

After working for government, he took up another job as Chief Commercial Photographer and Head of Photographic Department at Lintas Limited (now Lowe Lintas). And after leaving Lintas in 1975, he set up a studio, Foto Ojeikere.