President Muhammadu Buhari has announced Senator Babafemi Ojudu as his special adviser on political matters, the Gazelle News reports.
According to the online news portal, , the Senator who represented Ekiti central senatorial district in the upper legislative chamber of the 7th National Assembly, collected his letter of appointment late Tuesday, January 5.
Senator Ojudu was a member of the Senate between 2011 and 2015 on the platform of then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before it joined other parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
During his stay in the upper legislative chamber, he was the vice chairman of the Defence Committee of the Senate as well as being the spokesman for the APC Senate caucus in the Red Chamber.
Senator Ojudu was one of the active lawmakers in the 7th National Assembly but decided not to seek re-election in 2015.
However, he devoted his time to workings for the party right from the period leading ot its formation, onto the campaigns and the post swearing in activities.
Ojodu began his journalism career in 1987 with African Concord magazine, starting as a Staff Writer and moving up to Assistant Editor. The job involved extensive travel in Nigeria and to other African countries. In 1992 Ojudu resigned in protest of a request by M.K.O. Abiola, the publisher, to apologise to President Ibrahim Babangida over a piece critical of the military regime. In 1993 he and other former workers at the African Concord established The News magazine, with Ojudu as its first Managing Editor.
According to Wikipedia, Gani Fawehinmi assisted in founding the newspaper with a contribution of N25,000. However, when Ojudu much later refused to support Fawehinmi in his campaign against Bola Tinubu, elected Lagos State Governor in 1999, Fawehinmi demanded a refund of this money. The first version of The News did not last long before it was banned by Babangida in 1993.
Years later, when Babangida said he was in interested in running for president in the 2011 democratic elections, Ojudu said that the second coming of Babangida to rule the nation should be resisted by every Nigerian who wanted progress for the country. He said “He does not have anything good to offer us. We have suffered enough in his hands… He is a trickster. Look at how many journalists were killed during his time. Look at what he did to our colleagues (journalists)… Look at what happened to our institutions when he was around. He destroyed the system and he is now seeking to come back. “.
Ojudu was arrested, tortured and detained several times during the Sani Abacha regime (1993–1998). Ojudu was arrested and detained for three days at the notorious Shagisha prison in the outskirts of Lagos on 11 August 1996. The cause was an article in The News about Oil Minister Dan Etete which alleged that Etete was giving government contracts on behalf of the Nigerian State Oil Company to his family and friends. Later in 1996 Ojudu went to the USA for six months as a fellow at the School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, D.C.. On his return in June 1997 he was appointed Group Managing Editor of Independent Communications Network Ltd., publishers of The News, P.M. News and Tempo. He was arrested on 17 November 1997 after returning from a conference in Kenya. In July 1998 (after the death of Abacha) it was reported that he was suffering from typhoid fever and jaundice, both life-threatening, caused by the unsanitary conditions in which he was detained and denial of access to medication.
In addition to his Managing Editor work, both before and after the return to democracy Ojudu has been a member or chairman of several organizations and committees involved in media and human rights. In total, Ojudu spent 26 years in media practice before entering politics in 2010
