Lere Olayinka: A Brief Profile

Lere Olayinka, a fearless journalist, is currently the Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications and New Media. He worked as Media Aide to Chief Segun Oni when he was the PDP National Vice Chairman (South West) and was responsible for the vibrancy that was brought to the media of the Southwest PDP between 2012 and 2013.

Olayinka was before then, the Media Assistant to Chief Segun Oni between 2007 and 2010 when he was the governor of Ekiti State. His love and commitment to democracy and the party, PDP made him to remain in the party when Chief Segun Oni moved to the APC.

He contributed particularly in shaping narratives on social media which saw to the emergence of Gov. Fayose as Governor of the state in 2014. Lere Olayinka led a virile media opposition against the APC government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, contributing immensely to the victory of PDP in the June 21, 2014 governorship election.

His media opposition to the APC-led government of Fayemi led to his attack, arrest, detention and trial on October 12, 2012. He was accused of inciting over 22,000 teachers in Ekiti State against the APC government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi. His residence in Ado Ekiti had earlier been broken into through the roof by agents of of the APC government with only his laptop taken away. Despite several threats to his life, he was undeterred. The very day he was released from detention, he granted press interviews castigating the APC government of Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

On his arrest, detention and trial, a renowned Canada-based Professor and public commentator, Prof. Pius Adesanmi wrote; "...Lere Olayinka has been consistent with his opposition to Mr Fayemi’s government. He has led a very successive Facebook campaign which I follow closely."

Adesanmi further opined: "I have followed Mr. Olayinka long enough to be able to offer a considered assessment of his methods. You may hate the fact that he works for the degenerate PDP establishment (I do) but you cannot take away the empirical thoroughness of his critiques. He is unrelenting.

He deploys facts, moves thoughts, supplies details and statistics (and frequent pictorial evidence) to support his position. He wants you to see that the ACN system in his southwest corner of Nigeria, is turning out to be just as deleterious – if not more deleterious – than the PDP system we collectively hate and vilify.

His campaign is social media-based but sometimes he also hits the trenches." Dating back to the pre-2015 election period, Governor Fayose had always broken the super-information highway by his press releases issued through Lere Olayinka, especially those taking critical stance against Buhari.

It is to the credit of Lere Olayinka and Governor Fayose that the Buhari’s administration has been set on its toes especially in the area of national issues and economic policies. Lere is a talented individual that is blessed with:

1. The knowledge of the theory and practice of effective public communication through proper data probing.

2. Cutting-edge journalistic acumen; the ability to analyse facts for media relevance and spartial control, and formulate them accordingly.

3. Wide knowledge of local, national and, where applicable, international media.

4. The ability to tackle specific fields of communication including corporate public identity, internal communication, crisis/risk communication, media/relations, online communication, personnel communication, lobbying, product PR, sponsoring, amongst others.

5. Experience with various support tools, such as creativity, planning and evaluation techniques, as well as political market and opinion research.

6. Knowledge of, and skills in professions related to communication, such as public affairs, lobbying, political marketing, advertising, brand management, direct marketing, to mention but few.

7. Superb knowledge of contemporary methods in print and electronic media. 8. Knowledge of communication technologies for communicating politics, for coaching, moderation, presentations, negotiations and communication skills.

9. Extensive knowledge of political systems and processes within the Nigerian immediate and remote publics' geographical spaces.

10. Professional handling of team work, communication in the context of (party) political activities.

11. The ability to communicate emphatically with staff and voluntary supporters. In conclusion, Lere Olayinka possesses excellent communication skills.

He is deeply committed to a carefully-chosen cause, able to work under pressure, a team player, one with an amiable social skills, able to act and think flexibly, responsible and highly creative. There is no doubt that having someone like him as the next National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, will be of immense benefits to members and the entire public both remote and public.