>
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday nominated Mr. Sunday Dare as the ministerial nominee from Oyo State.
This put an end to insinuations in some quarters that the immediate past governor of the state, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi or the immediate past Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu will pick the state’s ministerial slot.
Newspeakonline recalls that Ajimobi recently stated that he prefers to be in the senate as a senator than be a minister in the cabinet of the president.
“I hold President Muhammadu Buhari in high esteem. I will actually prefer a younger person to be considered for the ministerial slot since I am pursuing my senatorial ambition.
“I am in court for my senatorial election. I only expressed my preference that I am in court because I prefer the Senate,” he said.
On the other hand, Shittu had expressed his optimism that the president will retain him as a minister in his cabinet.
There had also been calls in some quarters within the party in the state especially from the Forum of Aspirants who called on the president few weeks ago not to appoint Ajimobi or anybody that can not unify members of the party in the state.
READ: QUICK LOOK: Why Ajimobi, Shittu, Dalung, other ‘favorites’ failed to make Buhari’s ministerial list
The forum had said nominating any of the leaders who plunged the party into crises in the state which eventually cost its candidate to lose the governorship election would further polarise the party.
Dare is the Executive Commissioner (Stakeholders Management), Nigeria Communications Commission. He was nominated alongside 42 others.
He served as media adviser and Chief of Staff to former Lagos State Governor and national leader of All Progressives Congress( APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Dare is also the convener of Social Media Clinic(SMC), a Media/Information Technology (New Media) initiative committed to educating private citizens on IT development and also in the use of telecommunication as an information tool and creating awareness on how to responsibly use the platform provided by advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) in International Studies from Ahmadu Bello University in 1991 and obtained a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the University of Jos. He was a Freedom Forum Fellow and Visiting Scholar, School of Journalism – New York University (NYU) in 1998. He later proceeded to Harvard University under the prestigious Harvard Nieman Journalism Fellowship between 2000 and 2001 where he studied Media and Public Policy.
In 2011 he won the Reuters Foundation Journalism Research Fellowship, University of Oxford, UK where he researched “New Media and Citizen Journalism in Africa – A Case Study: Using New Media Tools and Citizen Journalism to Investigate Corruption in Nigeria.”
He was the Chief, Hausa Service, Africa Division, Voice of America (VOA) in Washington from 2001 to 2009 and a founding member of the The News and Tempo Magazine where he served as Editor, Tempo magazine and pioneer Online Editor/General.
In 2009, he became Senior Special Assistant (Media) / Chief of Staff to the Minister of Information and Communications.
Dare is a recipient of many awards and has been recognized internationally, including being identified as one of the 50 Leading Nigerians in North America, 2010, in commemoration of Nigeria’s 50th Anniversary. He also won the Voice of America Meritorious Honor Award 2009 in recognition of his skillful leadership and outstanding performance; and he also bagged a Committee to Protect Journalists Citation in 2000 by the New York based organization in acknowledgement of his courage as a journalist.
He is a member and associate of several professional bodies including the US based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) the Investigative Workshop, American University and a former Knight Fellow, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Washington DC.