The throwback pictures of Laolu Akande have emerged of him meeting world leaders including current Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, former US President George W. Bush, former US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–93) and secretary of state (2001–05), Collin Powell and a host of others while in service as a journalist.
While in Nigeria, Akande worked with media outlets such as The Guardian, Tribune, & The News in the 1990s. He actually was one of the youngest ever Nigerian journalists to edit a national newspaper when he was named under 30 the Editor of Tribune on Saturday before he relocated to the US in 1998.
In the pictures, he was captioned in meetings with Vice President Osinbajo in Maryland (USA, during the 2014 campaigns), Bush at the White House after an exclusive interview in 2003 with the then US President , Gates in New York, Powell in Washington while practicing as a journalist in the United States, where he was among others Copy Editor at NY Newsday.
In his time in the newsroom, Akande was regarded as one of the best in the field because of his attention to details, tonnes of exclusive reports and an unrelenting commitment to excellence on the job.
Many of his former colleagues have publicly attested to his high standards and dexterity, attributes that distinguish him from others.
Akande was appointed the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity (Office of the Vice President) in 2015.
His job as presidential spokesperson speaks largely of his high degree of professionalism and excellence.
Akande worked as both a reporter and editor with major newspapers in Nigeria and the United States.
Akande has demonstrated that he remains one of the few journalists who left the country and came back to become relevant in the public sphere to date. His story is truly inspiring in that hard work and tenacity still pay.