In the thick of the electioneering campaign for the 2023 presidential election, the man who eventually emerged victorious as the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had many political surrogates who campaigned vigorously for him. A lot of them did well to highlight his numerous positive attributes and counter falsehoods and conspiracy theories. The result of the election shows that they did their jobs very well.
Some of these surrogates that did a yeoman’s job for the president-elect are already well-known in the political sphere in country. They include Dele Alake, Hanatu Musawa, Bayo Onanuga and Festus Keyamo, as well as Biodun Ajiboye.
Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye was all over the place during this period. Chances are that anyone who paid more than a passing attention to 2023 presidential election campaign would have seen this public relations and advertising expert, preach the good tidings of the Asiwaju on all national television stations as well as social media platforms in Nigeria. He was practically ubiquitous.
Ajiboye engaged with almost every spokesperson of the opposition parties in debates and almost every interviewer all over the airwaves without letting up. His great comebacks were legendary. There was never a question he couldn’t answer convincingly or an attack on his principal he couldn’t repel. When you think you got him, his clever retorts made his opponents or interviewers short of words. If he was a footballer, he would have been a libero. He turned defense into offense. He always came out of every confrontation swinging.
A lot of election watchers, including opponents of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were impressed by Ajiboye’s eloquence, articulate and stellar performances as a vehement defender of the president-elect. He never stuttered or hesitated whenever he made a point. He never for a moment spoke out of context. He is a wordsmith that knows his onions. Almost like an encyclopedia of political discourse who never lost a verbal duel on the airwaves.
Internet and social media savvy, he was also all over cyberspace, campaigning for Asiwaju and defending him against all sorts of contrived accusations. Of course, he endured a lot of insults and name callings but never allowed himself to be thrown off course or feeding the trolls, while staying true to his conviction.
A master debater, it helps that Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye has been a Public Relations and advertising expert for more than 30 years. His outfit, Logcia Communications was one of the organizations that ushered in the revolution in the telecommunications industry more than 20 years ago. His expertise endeared him to some of the biggest corporate accounts in the land.
He didn’t just run a public relations outfit and advertising outfit, for so many years, Ajiboye published one of the most consequential magazines in the telecommunications industry in Nigeria, Nigerian Telecoms News. It was a publication that captured the attention of the entire industry at the nascent stage of the liberalization of the sector. There hardly was any operator that never wanted to feature in the magazine. It ran a lot of industry feature stories and put operators as well as regulators on their toes. It was a publication that captured the rapt attention and imagination of the market.
Always one to gun for great things, Ajiboye coordinated the most respected award organization in the telecommunications industry when he berthed the Nigeria Telecoms Award. It was an organization which for several years awarded excellence in the telecommunications industry. Numerous organization with the sector still proudly display plaques they received from the Nigerian Telecom Awards in the their cabinet.
Ajiboye achieved a great feat when he brought in about 7 African head of states to grace the ceremonies of the Nigerian telecoms awards. It was a feat that had never been achieved by a private organization by then and one that has since not been repeated.
Ajiboye left a gaping hole in the industry when he left it for active politics in 2015. He soon pitched his tent with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and worked in the office of the president-elect Buhari’s Chief Security Officer. He later became the national secretary of the Buhari Support Group during the electioneering campaign for the second term of the out-going president.
Even as the transition period picks up gear, Otunba Abiodun Ajiboye has continued to offer invaluable services to the APC and the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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