It was at the 9th graduation ceremony of the Splash FM Media Academy and the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, was specially requested to give pep talk to the 38 graduands of the institution.
As the graduands fixed their gaze on him, Oyelade told them without formality, “pretend you’re in the classroom and not in a graduation ceremony mood. The best way for you to enjoy this morning session to my mind is for me to take a retrospective look at my sojourn as a broadcast journalist and let you into some of the drama that are inevitable in a frenetic career.”
The commissioner for information regaled the audience with instances of his on-the-field encounters in his 47 year experience and still counting.
His near fatal experience covering the Ali-Must-Go students crisis in 1978.
His encounter with Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his Orderly during Obasanjo’s Thank You Tour in 1978-79.
His coverage of the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini’s Tribunal in Benin in 1985-86.
And the memorable coverage of the Gen. Mamman Vatsa coup of 1986 at the Lagos Garrison.
Oyelade picked a few other dramatic examples and concluded to a fascinated audience that “as a 72 year old commissioner in the state, I still report, with the microphone in my hand, activities of the government as I did when I was 27; the only difference now is my wrinkled face.
“And If you ask me which of these experiences are more defining to my career, I will tell you _*honestly I do not know.*_”
Earlier, the General Manager, Operations of Splash and Lagelu FM stations, Mr. Tunde Olawuwo, had described Oyelade as “the master of the game, a reporter, a broadcaster, a publisher, specialist in political communication, an administrator and a professional in politics.”
Olawuwo said it was these qualities that made splash FM to make him the first Information Commissioner to be invited to address the graduands.
Responding on behalf of the graduands, Mr Michael Ajao said that Oyelade’s name precedes him and his outstanding performance as Executive Chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, BCOS, between 2019 and 2023 stood him out as a performing Broadcast Manager
The academy has graduated 358 graduands in the past nine academic sessions.
