Commemorating Over Two Years of His Active Return to Journalism
Laolu Akande’s 35-year career is proof that journalism can be consequential both outside and inside government. From a newsroom under Sani Abacha’s junta to the White House and United Nations press corps, to the Vice President’s office in Aso Rock, and back to a Channels TV studio in December 2023, he has reported from every side of power.
Two years into his active return to journalism with Inside Sources, the through line is clear: information is power, and Akande has spent a lifetime ensuring it flows to the people. From CITADEL in 1997 to MY TAKE in 2025, the beat has not changed power, and who tells the truth about it.
1989–1998: The Newsroom, Exile, and the Youngest Editor
Akande began in 1989, freelancing while at the University of Ibadan. By 1990, he was a Staff Reporter at The Guardian on the education beat. His 1992 coverage of the ASUU strike was consequential. He obtained memos, interviewed both sides, and exposed how the Ibrahim Babangida government’s public stance contradicted its private offers. That reporting forced transparency and shifted public sympathy toward the lecturers.
In 1993, he joined the founding team of The News magazine as Senior Writer, also writing for Tempo. Both publications were banned under Abacha. He filed reports from safe houses while editors were jailed. In 1995, he moved to the Nigerian Tribune as Special Projects Editor. By 1997, at age 29, he became Editor of Tribune on Saturday — Nigeria’s youngest national newspaper editor at the time. His weekly column CITADEL gave Nigerians language to describe military overreach and civic duty.
In February 1998, his story “Who Wants Diya Dead?”, published the same day the junta declared Oladipo Diya a coup plotter, made him “Most Wanted” on the State Security Service list. This episode forced him into exile in the United States 14 months later. The exile preserved an independent voice that dictatorship sought to silence.
1998–2015: White House, UN, and Building Diaspora Media
Exile internationalized his journalism. He worked as Assistant Editor at Newsday in New York and freelanced for major U.S. outlets. He was also a Fellow of the Tribune Minority Editorial Training Program (METPRO). Through platforms like Chatafrik.com and Nigeriaworld.com, he maintained scrutiny on Nigeria during and after the Abacha years.
In 2004, he founded Empowered Newswire, a New York-based agency covering Nigeria and Africa from North America, where he remains Editor-in-Chief. He also served as North America Bureau Chief for The Guardian (Nigeria).
Credentialed at the White House and United Nations, he became the longest-serving African correspondent at the UN. He is the only Nigerian journalist to interview a sitting U.S. President in the White House — George W. Bush in 2003. He also interviewed Donald Trump, Colin Powell, Bill Gates, and several African heads of state.
His advocacy contributed to the U.S. designation of Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, expanding international counterterrorism tools. While in New York, he lectured for over a decade at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
2015–2023: Inside Government, Still Speaking for the People
In June 2015, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo appointed Akande as Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity. He served for eight years — the longest tenure of any VP spokesperson since 1999.
The role gave him insight into the Presidency’s “information bubble,” where briefings are filtered and inconvenient facts softened. Yet even as spokesperson, Akande often spoke from the people’s perspective.
During nationwide protests, he publicly stated that protests are legitimate and that government must listen rather than suppress dissent. During fuel scarcity and economic hardship, he acknowledged public pain instead of offering blanket defenses. He also survived the 2019 Kogi helicopter crash-landing alongside Osinbajo.
He received the national honour OON (Officer of the Order of the Niger) and the 2022 Special Recognition Award from the University of Ibadan Alumni. He left office in May 2023.
2023–Present: Two Years Back with Inside Sources
On December 22, 2023, Akande returned to full-time journalism with Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television. Two years on, the show has become a pillar of public-interest broadcasting.
His mission: “We need to give information to the people; otherwise, the people will not have power.”
Each episode opens with MY TAKE, his editorial framing the week’s most urgent issue. The show also runs the series WHO WILL TELL THE PRESIDENT, aimed at confronting the information gap he observed in government.
In the last two years, Laolu Akande has taken hard but balanced outlook on Nigeria, governance, and politics as it affects the people:
On Presidential Accountability: He questioned Bola Tinubu’s absence from UNGA, asking who informs the President about global perceptions of Nigeria.
On Human Dignity: After the Plateau killings, he read victims’ names on air, reframing coverage from statistics to human loss.
On Economic Reality: He challenged official narratives on inflation and reforms, contrasting government claims with lived experiences.
On Restructuring: In discussions with Itse Sagay, he advocated for devolution of power.
On International Relations: His interview with Chris Smith examined US concerns about religious freedom in Nigeria.
Duty of Aides: He emphasized that advisers must tell leaders difficult truths, not just convenient ones.
Why His Work Stands Out
He has influenced outcomes from shaping public opinion during the ASUU crisis to amplifying global action against Boko Haram. He endured exile but expanded his reach globally. His experience inside government sharpened his journalism rather than compromising it.
Two years after his return, Inside Sources represents journalism informed by power, but not controlled by it.
