I have no doubt that William Toyin Akanle, Mni, Fniis, PhD will be on the ballot for Kogi West senate election in 2019.
Akanle was a senatorial aspirant on the platform of the PDP but withdrew from the race following the consensus arrangement which produced Tolorunjuwon Joseph Faniyi as the consensus candidate of Yagba Federal Constituency. Faniyi however went on to lose to Adeyemi, who hails from Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu, in the PDP primary election held in 2014. He went ahead and contested the March 2015 senate election under a relatively unknown Social Democratic Party (SDP).
After the explosive 2015 senate elections, Akanle and his teeming supporters threw their weight behind the highly successful campaign of late Prince Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the fruits of which Governor Yahaya Bello is enjoying today.
Toyin Akanle, a fine gentleman, is the best for Kogi West come 2019. In our quest to redeem our lost glory in Kogi West, we cannot afford to get it wrong in 2019. We must go support an experienced hand to turn the tides around, someone who can represent us well, harness our enormous potentials and ensure practical economic growth amidst security concerns.
Akanle is a seasoned and astute security professional who enjoy challenges and demonstrates advanced problem-solving skills. An accomplished and distinguished security intelligence professional who has had over three decades of successful and significant career tenure in the State Security Service.
During this period, he served in several capacities and in several parts of the country, especially in States with high profile security threats where his crisis management capability has been variously tested and proven. At various times, he served as State Director of Security in several States across the Country.
Akanle was one time Director of Intelligence and Director National Assembly Liaison at the National Headquarters of the State Security Service. He peaked his career as the Director of the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), Abuja, the country’s highest Training and Manpower Development Institute for top cadre personnel of security intelligence, Law Enforcement, Para- Military and Regulatory Agencies.
A Mass Communication graduate of the University of Lagos, Akanle holds post graduate degrees in Managerial Psychology and Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has attended various professional trainings, courses, workshops and seminars in Nigeria, Europe, Israel and the United States of America.
As an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, he is a member of the National Institute, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute for Industrial Security, member of the American Society of Industrial Security International and also a Member of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice. In the area of Emergency Management and Contingency Planning, Akanle has been most effective. He is a Peace and Conflicts scholar and practitioner, specializing in crisis management through Mediation and Negotiation. He is a speaker on institutional, national, sub-regional and global security challenges.
Presently, Akanle is the Managing Partner and CEO of Brookesides International Limited. He is a Security Consultant/Adviser to several organizations both in the public and private sectors in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
I enjoin patriotic Kogi West leaders, women and youths to rally round Akanle to redeem the lost glory of Kogi West come 2019.
– Abidemi Olalekan writes from Lokoja.
