Tongues were set wagging on May 30 2019 when Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu appointed Gboyega Akosile as his Deputy Chief Press Secretary (DCPS), a designation that is alien to many in Alausa, the seat of power.

Given the role he played in the 2019 governorship campaign in Lagos State , where he, alongside the media team of Sanwo-Olu assisted with media engagement, perception management and content creation for public engagement, many had expected that Akosile will automatically become the next CPS in Lagos after the exit of the highly resourceful Habib Aruna who occupied the position during the Akinwunmi Ambode administration. However, having been named Deputy CPS, many were kept in suspense as to who occupies the position of the substantive CPS.

It was later gathered that while Sanwo-Olu had already penciled down Akosile as the CPS, some power brokers in the Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) decided that the party will appoint a ‘party man’ for the position. While the governor deferred to them, our correspondent gathered that he was not disposed to many of the names put forward.


On the other hand, some media professionals and journalists who had worked with Akosile over the years kept making a case for him as a thoroughbred professional and capable hand who is very qualified for the job. Some party members who also came in contact with him during the electioneering campaign also attested to the fact that he performed his role as Sanwo-Olu’s image maker creditably well before, during and after the governorship election.

During a media parley with media executives during the Eid-el-Maulud , Segun Ayobolu, former CPS to former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, spoke glowingly of how Akosile contributed in no small measures to the success of the Tinubu administration and successive governments in the state through balanced reportage of events relating to the state government. He also commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for bringing him on board, adding that his wealth of experience will benefit the administration in many positive ways.

After much ado, Governor Sanwo-Olu finally confirmed Akosile as the substantive Chief Press Secretary, a development that has been hailed by many stakeholders in the media industry and journalists covering the daily activities of the governor.

Born on Lagos Island on the 8th of November, 1971, Akosile attended University of Ilorin, Kwara State and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Performing Arts.

He became the Artistic Director, National Youth Service Corps, Lagos Chapter in 1996 during his service year. On passing out from the National Youth Service Corps, he joined the Lagos State Television as a reporter and his style and flair opened an opportunity for him to become a producer as well.

His quest for modern day news technique made him to take up a role as a presenter, reporter and producer at Channels TV where he was involved in the daily news production as well as presentation two in-house programs.

Seeing an opportunity to broaden his media expertise and conquer new territory, he explored radio broadcasting, joining Cool FM 96.9fm in 2000, an exciting station that had just launched 2 years earlier as an On-Air, Senior Reporter and Desk Editor. He also doubled as Public Relations/Protocol Officer while at the station.

He returned to the State owned Lagos State Television as a producer in 2002 in consultancy capacity. In 2004, he took up a bigger role as Head of News at MITV.

Akosile later joined the newly recapitalized Minaj Broadcast International (MBI) as one of the few staff who turned around the fortunes of the station. He was appointed as Political editor and later became Head of Reportorial corps.

A quest for further knowledge led Akosile to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he bagged a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 2008.

Between 2010 and 2011, he was at Super Screen Television, where he directly supervised the daily news bulletins, supervised, coordinated and organized the news staff and the news room, planned and produced the daily editorial schedules, among others.

With a career spanning over a dozen years, Akosile decided to set up his own Media and Communication outfit, Bridgeworld Communication Company where he worked both as the Chief Executive Officer as well as Executive Editor of some of its news portfolios. In that capacity, he has trained and developed a number of media personnel; produced several news and documentary contents for both television and radio stations.

A consummate media practitioner with practical knowledge of the socio-political space, Akosile, described as a ‘complete gentleman’ by his colleagues was a media consultant to the World Bank for a number of years. He has also contributed several opinion articles on the state of the nation to different national newspapers.
https://www.independent.ng/cps-how-akosile-triumphed-against-all-odds/

This is super story

somebody will labour. when it is time for him to enjoy, some old men will want to pour sandfor him garri. Thanks Sanwo-Olu for doing the right thing