Chris Maduabrochukwu Okolie (born 1949, died 2007) was a Nigerian concert promoter and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and who founded New Breed Organization, publishers of the now defunct ''New Breed''

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

Life

Okolie started out as a

music promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

in the late 1960s, promoting small shows at the J.K. Randle and

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

halls in Lagos. He then briefly studied

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

at Watford College,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

before returning to Nigeria. In 1975, he established ''New Breed'' a biweekly news magazine published from Ogunlana Drive in

Surulere Surulere is a local government area located on the mainland in Lagos State, Nigeria. It has an area of . At the 2006 census, there were 503,975 inhabitants, with a population density of 21,864 inhabitants per square kilometer. The local governm ...

. As the publisher, he sometimes came into conflict with military leaders in the country. In 1977, he was detained by authorities who did not like an article that was printed in the magazine. In June 1978, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

confiscated thousands of copies of the magazine and further imposed a ban on publication. The magazine resumed publication in 1987, 9 years after the ban. In 1992, he joined the political process and was a member and

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the Committee of National Consensus 1996 but later moved to the

United Nigeria Congress Party The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) was a Nigerian political party. It was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, i ...

(UNCP) in 1997. He died on March 4, 2007, from complications related to a car accident in 2005. He is buried in Okpanam,

Delta State Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

.http://allafrica.com/stories/200704280003.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okolie, Chris 2007 deaths Nigerian journalists 1949 births