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More revelations have emerged concerning the shocking resignation of the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
Ngelale threw in the towel on Friday via a resignation letter sent to the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajiabimila.
Soon after the news of the resignation hit the public space, fresh facts have emerged that the reason Ngelale gave for stepping aside as the Presidential spokesman was only a face-saving strategy.
Sources said Ngelale feared being sacked and disgraced out of Aso Rock following his shocking defeat in the power game in the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Recall that on Saturday Ngelale announced his decision to take an “indefinite” leave of absence from work over medical and personal issues.
Later that same day, the Presidency in a statement, confirmed and accepted Ngelale’s decision to step down as Tinubu’s spokesperson.
Many highly-placed sources in and around the Presidency said that Ngelale’s exit was not triggered by a family health emergency as he made many to believe, but rather his loss in a power tussle with a long time ally of Tinubu, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy.
Sources indicate that despite Ngelale’s perceived closeness to Tinubu and his son, Seyi, who was said to have influenced his appointment as the President’s spokesperson, as well as the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, his long feud with Onanuga, coupled with other reasons, eventually cost him his job.
While he said he was stepping aside to deal with medical matters affecting his family, Rocketparrot News reliably learnt that Ngelale chose to resign after he got the wind that he was about to be humiliated out of the office.
Sources at the Presidential Villa said the Presidency had been shopping for an experienced and competent media professional to replace Ngelale in the past weeks as the journalist was said to have failed to demonstrate sufficient capacity to effectively deliver on the job.
Ngelale held two key positions at the same time – special adviser to the president on media and publicity and special presidential envoy on climate action/chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.
However, sources said the Presidency recently directed Ngelale to focus on his climate action role while another individual is appointed to serve as media adviser and spokesperson for the President.
It was learnt that Ngelale preferred to retain the media adviser's position while stepping down from the Climate change role, but the Presidency rejected his preference.
Some reliable sources said that Ngelale was told point-blank that he could remain on the President’s media team but that he would operate under a new appointee to the position.
The exchange and subsequent events that happened in Aso Rock rattled Ngelale, who for some weeks was blocked from meeting President Tinubu and was also excluded from the President’s delegation to China.
President Tinubu, who came to power on May 29, 2023, appointed Ajuri Ngelale as his spokesperson in August 2023 reportedly on the recommendation of the President's son, Seyi Tinubu.
It was learnt that shortly after Ngelale's appointment it became clear to the President, his son and some members of his cabinet that he lacked the requisite “experience, contacts and networks” needed for such a top job.
Sources in the presidency said when Ngelale saw that he could no longer access the President, he decided to quit the job to avoid the ridicule he was going through as he was basically isolated even by those who brought him to take the position.
Another official said the spokesperson had little contact with local and international media and commanded little respect from media owners, editors, and leading journalists in Nigeria.
“It is a misnomer and a miscalculation for the President to have appointed such a junior journalist to such a senior position. It is no surprise that he could not deliver as expected,” the official said.
Last year, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) queried Ngelale’s qualifications and competence as the president’s spokesperson.
The NIPR had claimed that Ngelale was unsuitable to hold that “exalted position” because he lacked the basic “knowledge and requisite training on public relations.”
In a statement yesterday, President Tinubu accepted Ngelale’s exit plan and sympathised with the circumstances that had led to this seemingly difficult decision.
Tinubu extended his heartfelt prayers and best wishes to Ngelale and his family during his challenging moment.
The man, Ngelale Ajuri Obari Ngelale is a Nigerian broadcast journalist and politician born on 13 November 1986, about 38 years ago.
He served as presidential spokesman for President Bola Tinubu up until Friday, September 6, 2024, before stepping aside on health grounds.
He previously served as presidential senior special adviser on public affairs to former President Muhammadu Buhari and was a co-principal spokesperson for Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council for the 2023 Nigerian general election which the Tinubu's party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won.
He was a senior reporter and presenter at Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Channels Television.
Ngelale was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, United States, to a Nigerian father of Eleme, Rivers State indigene, Chief Precious Osaro Ngelale and a German-American mother Diane who served as Social Welfare Director of the Rivers State Government under Governor Melford Okilo.
His father was a geologist and politician who was elected to the Rivers State House of Assembly in the Third Republic and served until General Muhammadu Buhari's military coup of 1983.
Following the military coup, his family moved to the United States in 1985. After the return of civilian rule in 1999, his father was appointed to the federal cabinet as a minister. Ngelale earned a bachelor's degree majoring in Political Science and History from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
He returned to Nigeria in 2011 to participate in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Career-wise, Ngelale started his journalism profession as a youth corps member at Africa Independent Television where he was deployed for his one-year national service. After completing his national service, he was retained by AIT as an investigative reporter and later served as a news editor, producer and presenter from 2011 to 2016.
At the TV station, he produced two critically acclaimed public affairs documentary series 'State of the Nation (2012) and Diary from the Delta (2016).
He left AIT in 2016 and joined Channels Television where he served as a co-anchor of a popular public policy discussion programme, 'Sunrise Daily' and in partnership with the United States Government's Mandela Washington Fellowship, produced and presented Africa’s Future Leaders which documented young African leaders uplifting disadvantaged population through their individual efforts.
In 2019, he resigned from Channels TV to become the lead media content producer for the APC Next Level Presidential Campaign for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari under the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential campaign organisation.
Following their victory at the poll in 2019, President Buhari appointed Ngelale as his senior special adviser on public affairs and served in this position till 2023 when Buhari left office.
In October 2022, Ngelale was appointed co-principal spokesperson for the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Organisation.
He appeared frequently on national radio and TV, and international media including CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera.
On 31 July 2023, President Bola Tinubu appointed Ngelale his official spokesperson. On 19 May 2024, President Tinubu appointed Ngelale as the first Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He was also appointed as the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen, Nigeria's first green industrial zone and as Secretary of the Presidential Committee on Climate Action and Green Economic Solutions, chaired by President Tinubu.
On 7 September 2024, Ngelale resigned indefinitely from his role as the presidential spokesman for Tinubu to address medical issues affecting his immediate family.
