Ademola Babalola in Ibadan
The immediate past Executive Director with The Sun Newspaper, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, has been appointed as the new Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, on Communication and Strategy.
Tunji replaces the erstwhile Adviser in the same capacity, Mr. Yomi Layinka, according to a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Lekan Ali, last Wednesday.
The new media handler to the governor, until his new appointment, was the executive director on Special Duties and a member of the board of The Sun Newspapers, where he took a leave of absence to assume his new role.
An alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, the new governor’s spokesman was the pioneer Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the New Telegraph Newspaper.
He began his journalism career at the Guardian newspaper in March 1993, from where he joined the Daily Independent newspaper as pioneer Deputy News Editor in 2001 and had a meteoric rise to the position of an Editor.
Tunji also had a stint with the Daily Times before joining the defunct Comet newspaper, which later metamorphosed into The Nation Newspaper.
At The Nation, he was the pioneer editor of the Saturday title before joining the repackaged National Mirror as pioneer Sunday Editor and later Editor of the National Mirror, the flagship of the Global Media Mirror Limited titles.
He left the National Mirror to assist in the setting up of the New Telegraph, where he served as the pioneer MD/EIC, before being appointed as the ED, special duties of The Sun Newspaper. Tunji is married and is blessed with male and female children.
The statement by the SSG further stated that Yomi Layinka has been redeployed to the new and strategic role of Special Adviser, Ibadan Media City Project.
Ali said Layinka is expected to oversee the proposed transformation of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State into a massive and formidable media, entertainment and cultural hub for South-west Nigeria.
According to him, the redeployment of the governor’s former spokesman to the new project is further proof of the government’s commitment to reclaiming the state’s pioneer status as Nigeria’s leading centre of media, entertainment and culture.
Layinka, a veteran broadcaster, is being saddled with a new responsibility of transforming the corporation into a hub that would include television and radio broadcasting production studios, theme parks/resorts, hospitality centre, a media academy and hosting venue for major live events in the sub-region.
