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At The 2023 City People Awards For Excellence
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The Intimate Story Of TAYO AYINDE
At the just concluded 2023 City People Awards for Excellence, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, the Chief of Staff to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu was honoured with a Leadership in Public Service award for his remarkable contributions to the running of Lagos State. The Lagos Chief of Staff, Mr. Tayo Ayinde enjoys tremendous respect and love from many people who have encountered him over the last 4 and half years. He is said to be humble and easy going. He is also kind to a fault.
He is one aide of the Lagos Governor, who has contributed a lot to the overall success of the Sanwo-Olu Administration. He is also one of those who ensured the stability of the administration. He did a lot in the last 4 years to ensure the tremendous success of the administration. As expected, his office, has been a clearing house of sorts, for a lot of administrative issues. He has done a lot to ensure that the Sanwo-Olu administration succeeded in its first term . 24/7 he is always set to step in whenever there is a crisis and he has been able to stop a lot of issues from developing into crisis situations.
When he was first made Chief of Staff, there were those who felt he would be overwhelmed by the job, which requires being painstaking and meticulous. Many did not know that there are natural gifts he has, not only has he handled his administrative responsibilities well, he has also grown to become an astute grassroot politician. Many don’t know that he is a political strategist who has learnt a lot from his political mentor, Pres. Bola Tinubu. Over the last few years, he has co-ordinated the campaign structure that made the Lagos Governor win elections twice. He has since become a master of the game He is very calculating and he doesn’t make noise at all. He believes in the saying slow and steady wins the race.
That Gov. Sanwo Olu respects him a lot became clear when he was promptly re-appointed the Chief of Staff, after he won his 2nd term bid. He trusts Tayo Ayinde so much that he knows that he can go to sleep once his Chief of Staff is in charge of any issue.
Mr. Tayo Akinmade Ayinde was appointed as Lagos State Chief of Staff by Governor; Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. He was born on the 24th of August 1964 at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. He attended St. Peters’ Anglican Primary School, Alausa, Ikeja where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate. He also attended Ogudu Grammar School, Ojota, Lagos where he sat and obtained his West African School Certificate.
He was admitted into Federal Polytechnic, Anambra from where he was awarded the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Banking and later the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accountancy. He worked briefly with TELL Magazine as Account Officer in 1993. In that same year, he joined the State Security Service (SSS) in whose ranks he distinguished himself as a dedicated, loyal, courageous and trustworthy Officer till he retired meritoriously in 2009.
While in the SSS, Mr. Ayinde was Head of the Accounts Department of State Security Service (SSS) Shangisha Office from 1993 – 1999. He later worked with the former Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Governor Emeritus Jagaban Borgu and Asiwaju of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Chief Security Detail.
Mr. Ayinde holds a Master’s Degree (MBA) in Financial Management from Lagos State University. He also attended University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management, where he underwent a Course of Study in Strategic Thinking Approach. He later attended the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School for a Course of Study in Business Model Innovation. Not done still, he went further to study Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. All these were in addition to his professional training on VIP protection and anti-terrorism in the best Institutions in Israel and the UK.
A committed supporter of universal human values and an advocate of support for the less privileged, Mr. Tayo Ayinde has touched many lives for the better. In a bid to deploy his immense capacity for service to humanity, Tayo Ayinde delved fully into politics in 2009. He was the Director General for Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat’s Independent Campaign Group, and later Chairman of the Inauguration Committee after the March 9th 2019 victory at the gubernatorial elections.
Mr. Tayo Akinmade Ayinde, a devout Christian, is happily married and blessed with children.