On Tuesday, December 27, 2022, Akin Osuntokun was announced as the Director General of the Peter Obi Campaign Council.
Obi is of course the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 general elections.
Born in Okemesi, Ekiti State in Southwestern Nigeria in 1961, Osuntokun comes into his new role, fully made.
61-year-old Osuntokun has been a media man, political strategist, political scientist, researcher, administrator and pundit for most of his adult life.
Between 1999 and 2007, Osuntokun served as Political Adviser to then President Olusegun Obasanjo. From 2011 to 2015, Osuntokun was Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He has also written tons of articles, opinion pieces or essays that have graced the back and inner pages of major newspapers, since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999.
Osuntokun is experienced in media advocacy, policy research and implementation and political analysis. In 2011, Osuntokun became the Director of the Presidential Campaign of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2011 general elections.
Osuntokun has also served as the Managing Director of Odua Printing Corporation and he he has sat on the board of several public corporations.
Osuntokun is the current Balogun of Okemesi–which translates to the war commander of Okemesi Ekiti where he hails from. This title was once held by Fabunmi of Okemesi who led the Kiriji War between 1877 and 1893.
In July of 2021, Balogun Akin Osuntokun was named by the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, as the Chairman of the Ooni caucus, alongside 27 others.
Soft-spoken and lucid during television appearances, Osuntokun has taken on so many battles. However, occupying the role of Obi’s Campaign DG could be his toughest yet, given that opponents and skeptics have scoffed at Obi’s presidential run for being bereft of the kind of structure required to win a nationwide election.
After Doyin Okupe resigned from the role of Labour Party’s Campaign DG following conviction for fraud and money laundering, Obi couldn’t have asked for a better, astute replacement. In the somewhat tabula rasa campaign of Obi, Osuntokun certainly has his work cut out.