By Yemi Yusuf
Barely moments after being sworn in, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made his first set of appointments in the persons of Ambassador Kunle Adeleke as State Chief of Protocol (SCOP) to the President; Chief Dele Alake as Presidential Spokesman; and Olusegun Dada as his Special Assistant for Digital Media.
Like his two colleagues, Ambassador Adeleke, an Oyo-born career diplomat, officially began his assignment, today Monday, May 29, 2023.
An accomplished diplomat and lawyer, Ambassador Adeleke joined the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1993 and rose through the ranks, serving in various missions abroad and at the Headquarters, including the State House. His appointment is adjudged as well-deserved by his colleagues as he takes over from Ambassador Lawal Kazaure.
The new Chief of Protocol comes to the job with a huge pedigree as a career Foreign Service Officer and it’s expected that he will change the face of diplomatic protocol in the Villa.
His last appointed was as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU) and Ambassador to Ethiopia, where he reportedly served with distinction and represented the country creditably and honourably.
Chief Dele Alake the new President’s spokesman is another eminent personality who has risen to the top of his profession.
A former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos between 1999 – 2007 when Asiwaju Tinubu was Governor of Lagos State, Chief Alake was a newspaper editor and communication advisor to the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, winner of the June 12 1993 Presidential election annulled by then president Ibrahim Babangida.
In 2014, Dele Alake resurfaced in national politics in Nigeria through his appointment as the Director of Media and Communication of the Buhari Campaign Organisation to help Nigeria’s former head of state,
General Muhammadu Buhari to victory in the presidential election of February 2015.
Until his appointment Chief Alake was at the head of the media and communications team that oversaw President Tinubu’s victory in the last election.
The President’s Special Assistant for Digital Media, Olusegun Dada is a versatile digital communications guru who in the last ten years have founded, managed, and invested in multiple businesses including IT Horizons (and Zoja Technologies (Zojatech).
A former aspirant for the office of National Youth Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Dada was made to withdraw his candidacy at the party’s 2022 National Convention held at Eagle Square, Abuja for a consensus candidate.
