Faces Of The New Tinubu Administration; Bayo Onanuga And The Challenges To Come

Faces Of The New Tinubu Administration; Bayo Onanuga And The Challenges To Come

By Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah

Elections have been won and lost, and Nigerians have returned to reality in preparation for the inauguration of the incoming administration on May 29th. President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed has returned to the country, fully prepared to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was never an easy task for Tinubu, as the battle was fiercely fought on the internet, with a desperate opposition deploying all of their arsenals against the APC presidential candidate, all with the sole purpose of not only defaming his personality but also attempting to halt his every progressive move towards the presidency.

Tinubu has been the most denigrated, accused, and mentally tortured candidate in the history of electoral campaigns.

It got so bad that the President-elect declared he was no longer on social media due to the possibility of having high blood pressure as a result of the distorted facts about his personality flying around the internet, which happens to be the centre of communication worldwide.

Therefore, serving as the President-elect’s spokesperson is not an easy job. You run the danger of offending young folks who have no concept of their heritage and dealing with children who don’t have old men’s pictures in their living rooms.

They not only start or stop with nasty statements about your personality both on INTERNET AND OUTERNET, they go as far as trying to knock down anything related with your legacy and growth, even family ties are not left out, they are CYBER and COMMUNITY bullies who spare no victim.

So it was an intriguing surprise to see Mr Bayo Onanuga announced as the DG of the media directorate at the APC 2023 Presidential Campaign Council; how can this quintessential, amiable, and straight-forward personality handle such a directorate where the opposition has proliferated the space with horrible, doctored, and twisted narratives against Tinubu?

However, you know say no be as body dey scratch person dem dey scratch am, everybody no fit dey crazy at the same moment.You see, Bayo Onanuga is an excellent journalist.

He co-founded TheNews Magazine and was appointed managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2016. Prior to that, he was the CEO and editor-in-chief of PM News and TheNEWS magazine.

Thus, we were unaware that Tinubu was once again selecting the best candidates.

However, Bayo set the bar for how to deal with the Nattering Nitwits—as many of us now refer to them—by strictly upholding professional ethics, concentrating his communication on facts and figures, and outwitting them at their own game.

Bayo not only carried out his duties with utmost politeness and professionalism, but he was also well above board, as Davido would say,

“Over dem all ..If dem wan turn Goliath
I be David for life…Oluwa dey my side
Over dem all”

In other words, Bayo Onanuga never led a FEEDER squad; instead, it was a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PRO-MAX team. His accuracy at target is highly noteworthy, and Bayo has been assigned the media coordinator for the inauguration, which once more demonstrates Tinubu’s faith in him.

These are some of the faces we will see in the incoming administration, faces of Nigerians who have paid their dues through time, faces of patriot Nigerians determined to restore Nigerians’ yearning for a renewed HOPE.

Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah, Member of the APC 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Editor in Chief of iReporteronline, and Chairman/CEO of Bush Radio Academy, writes in from Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.