DAME to honour Ajibade Nov. 30
Quick Read
After graduation, he worked as a Copywriter with Grant Advertising in Lagos; Senior Correspondent, The African Concord; Assistant Editor, The African Guardian; and now he is Executive Editor, TheNEWS and P.M.News.
By Isa Isawade
The Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) will honour Mr Kunle Ajibade, Co-founder of the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL) and Executive Editor of TheNEWS and PMNEWS on Saturday, November 30, 2024, in Lagos.
This was disclosed in the notice of nomination letter dated Nov. 20 written by the DAME Board of Trustees and signed by Lanre Idowu on behalf of the Board to the author of Jailed for Life: A Reporter’s Prison Notes and What A Country!
The letter entitled: NOMINATION FOR THE DAME HONORARY FELLOWSHIP AWARD AT THE 33rd DAME said the Board decided to honour Ajibade for his “positive contributions to the development of Nigerian Journalism.”
The letter added: “The Trustees acknowledge your steady commitment to enterprising journalism, evidenced in your output and devotion since you embraced the profession in the late 1980s.
“We have noted your exploits at the African Concord, African Guardian, and as Executive Editor of TheNEWS and PMNEWS. Among others, your contributions to literary criticism in the effort to make the reader engage better with the written word are noteworthy. Your consistent efforts at ensuring that issues of culture and the arts find a pride of place in Nigerian journalism have significantly advanced the discourse on literature, culture and social development.”
The DAME Board emphasized that a country like Nigeria deserves to nurture a culture of appreciation through which genuine achievers are honoured.
The Board pleaded with the veteran journalist to come in the company of his wife to the august occasion billed to take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja to receive the award.
It congratulated Ajibade on the remarkable recognition and reminded the renowned journalist and essayist of the responsibility of the fellowship award: “As a DAME Fellow, you are expected to remain in good standing as a representative of a noble brand, who will, in speech and conduct, continue to work for the greater glory of DAME and responsible journalism in general.”
Kunle Ajibade was born on 28 May 1958 in Nigeria. He attended Muslim Grammar School, Ibadan for his secondary school, Oyo State College of Arts and Science, Ile-Ife for his A-Levels, and University of Ife for his BA in English Studies and his Master’s in Literature-in-English.
After graduation, he worked as a Copywriter with Grant Advertising in Lagos; Senior Correspondent, The African Concord and Assistant Editor, The African Guardian. He later co-founded the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL), Publishers of TheNEWS and PMNEWS in 1992, the titles for which he also serves as Executive Editor to date.
In the course of his job as a journalist, he suffered imprisonment during the reign of General Sani Abacha. He was tried along with others on a phantom coup plot orchestrated by the military junta to silence dissenting voices and sentenced to life in jail! The attendant global outrage the farce generated forced the junta to commute the sentence to fifteen years.
He, however, got released along with other numerous political detainees and prisoners three years after when the despot suddenly expired. The account of his three years in jail is documented in the book, Jailed for Life: A Reporter’s Prison Notes. The book won the Victor Nwankwo Book of the year award in 2004. This was followed by What A Country! in 2010.
Kunle is married to Bunmi who bore him Mayowa and Folarin.
Comments