Governor Adeleke celebrates 70 years of Shola Oshunkeye

● Says “He is a great icon of journalism that we are very satisfied with”

[Press Release] The Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke, has congratulated journalism icon, Chief Shola Oshunkeye, former Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Publishing Ghana Limited, as he turns 70 today, 20 April 2026.

In a statement issued on his behalf by the Spokesperson to the Governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke described Oshunkeye, a member of the Nigerian Corporation of Editors, NGE, as an international journalist who has brought honor to Osun State, Nigeria and Africa.

The governor recalls the great works and sacrificial service that Oshunkeye, an indigene of Ilesa in Osun State, has rendered to Nigeria and humanity. He referred to Oshunkeye’s role in the struggle for the implementation of the June 12, 1993 pan-Nigerian mandate given to Basorun MKO Abiola and the eventual achievement of democratic government in 1999.

Beyond Nigeria’s borders, Oshunkeye is credited as one of the international journalists who traveled to Niger Republic in 2005 to draw the world’s attention to the humanitarian disaster in the country. The country has been devastated by the worst drought and famine in modern history, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children and livestock.

Oshunkeye’s moving story, published by TELL magazine and entitled: Niger’s Graveyard of The Living, won the great writer the overall African Journalist of the Year 2006 award from CNN/Multichoice.

Born in Ilesa, Osun State, on April 20, 1956, Oshunkeye, after a glorious career in the civil service, began his journalistic odyssey in 1989 at the Concord Press of Nigeria, owned by the late Basorun MKO Abiola, and was linked to the great Weekend Concord, Nigeria’s first Saturday tabloid, with the legendary Mike Awoyinfa as its pioneer editor.

Ten years later, Oshunkeye succeeded Awoyinfa, his boss and mentor, as editor of the highly successful tabloid; a testimony to his diligence, perseverance, industry, consistency and unflinching commitment to the progress of society in all ramifications.

At TELL magazine, Oshunkeye made his mark as a top-notch investigative journalist. He was later posted to Abuja as the magazine’s bureau chief and State House correspondent, where he covered the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo between 2001 and 2005.

“It is for his meritorious service to the nation that I and my good people of Osun State celebrate this remarkable son of Ijesaland and congratulate his wife, Funsho, and their beautiful children, for this landmark,” Governor Adeleke said, adding: “Oshunkeye is a precious gift to us in Osun State. May the good Lord continue to preserve him and bless him and his family.”

Signed:
Mallam Olawale Rasheed,
Spokesman for the state governor

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