‘Fake news’ — Dele Alake debunks reports of appointment as Tinubu’s spokesperson

Dele Alake, a former Lagos commissioner of information and strategy, says he has not been appointed as the spokesperson of President Bola Tinubu.

Hours after the inauguration on Monday, Femi Fani-Kayode, former minister of aviation, announced on his Twitter handle that Alake has been appointed as the president’s spokesperson.

But speaking on the issue with TheCable, the former director of strategic communication of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, said the news of his appointment was fake.

“It was fake news. I’m always surprised when news people failed to recognise fake unsigned stories,” Alake said.

Alake was the commissioner for information and strategy in Lagos between 1999 and 2007 when Tinubu was the governor of the state. 

In 2014, he was appointed as the director of media and communication of the Buhari campaign organisation – his return to national politics after a brief hiatus from public roles.

As a journalist, Alake worked with Concord Press publishers as a writer and editor. After a year, he became a columnist in the National Concord and served in that capacity until 1989. 

He was appointed editor of Sunday Concord in the same year and held the position till 1995 before becoming the editor of the National Concord.