Not many people know that former Ogun governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba & President Muhammadu Buhari have been friends for 35 years. We can tell you that authoritatively, as Aremo Osoba prepares to mark his 80th birthday in grand style.
Only a few people remember that it was Gen. Buhari, as the then head of state who approved the appointment of Chief Osoba as the Managing Director of Daily Times, in 1984. The paper which was then owned by the Federal government. His job as the MD of one of the most powerful newspapers in the country then, Daily Times made him to be close to Buhari. And Buhari, who never forgets his old friends, has kept a close relationship with Osoba since then.
As you read this Chief Osoba is getting prepared for the launching of his memoir titled Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism & Politics. It is the story of his life, detailing highlights of his childhood, education, career and political life. “It is a documentation of history with revealing insights And it is a story of God’s abiding grace,” wrote Chief Osoba in the 1-page Invitation letter he sent out to guests.
The book is explosive, as it contains a lot of revelations. It will be launched on Monday 8th of July 2019 at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos at 11 am.
Chief Olusegun Osoba (born on 15 July 1939 at an Egba settlement in Osogbo) is a Nigerian journalist and politician.
Olusegun Osoba was born to Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Babatunde Osoba.
Education
Chief Olusegun Osoba attended a series of professional courses after high school graduation from Methodist Boys High School Lagos. He obtained a diploma in journalism at the University of Lagos, and went for a one-year course in the United Kingdom on the scholarship of the Commonwealth Press Union in 1967. In 1969, he was studying in Bloomington, USA at the Indiana University’s department of journalism.
In 1974 he won the Nieman Fellowship Award for journalism for years postgraduate study at Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is the first Nigerian to have won this prestigious Nieman Fellowship for Journalism.
Journalism
Chief Olusegun Osoba started his career in journalism in 1964 working with the Daily Times as a trainee reporter covering crime stories and by 1966, he was the diplomatic correspondent of the Times. He became news editor in 1968, deputy editor of the Sunday Times in 1971 and deputy editor of the Times in 1972. In August 1975, he became the Editor of the Daily Times of Nigeria, then left the firm in November 1975 to take up the task of General Manager of the Ilorin based Nigerian Herald. He returned to the Times in 1984 as the managing director.
Internationally, he worked as stringer or local correspondent for the following organizations: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),The Times of London, Newsweek Magazine, U.S.A, United Press International News Agency (UPI). He was the chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism and Member of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute representing Black-Africa from 1984-1992. He was a member of the Nigerian Constituent Assembly in 1988. He is also member of the Commonwealth Press Union, London and the Nigerian union of Journalist (NUJ).
Political career
Chief Olusegun Osoba was elected on two different occasions as Governor of Ogun State first from January 1992 until November 1993 with the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was removed from office by Sani Abacha’s administration on 17 November 1993. In 1999, he was elected again as governor with the Alliance for Democracy party (AD), holding office between May 1999 and May 2003.
He holds the National Honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger CON. He is a member of the National Conference 2014.
Chief Osoba is married to Chief Aderinsola Osoba, the Beere Awujale of Ijebu. They are the parents of four children, two boys and two girls: Kemi, Olumide, Oluyinka and Tobi.
Chief Osoba holds the chieftaincy titles of the Akinrogun of Egbaland and the Aremo Awujale of Ijebuland.
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