Remembering Tokunbo Ajai: 16 years on

Olatokunbo Fehintola Ajai lives on.

Seasoned broadcaster and consummate professional, it is very difficult to forget her. It is not unusual to recall her rich voice and her unusual tomboyish simplicity on the Network News of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Her memory has refused to fade, her contribution to broadcasting and news casting still fresh in our memory. She read the news with gait and a golden voice.

Tokunbo was unique and highly unforgettable. Tokunbo worked hard and played hard.
She joined the pantheon of revered newscasters and broadcasters on her own merit at the NTA Network News Headquarters in Lagos before the group was moved to Abuja.

She earned her respect among the notable newscasters of the time. The group had the velvet voice of Cyril Stober, the sandpaper sharp Siene Allwell Brown, the sweet and solemn voices of Ruth Benemesia Opiah, Lola Ogunbambi and Eugenia Abu, and the soulful John Momoh.

It was an enviable cast and the best in a very long time. It was always a luxury to have two of them read the news at 9:00 p.m. which made many to still stay tuned even when the NTA has lost its credibility and daily dole out lies and propaganda for the dictatorship of Ibrahim Babangida.

The group put a brave face to the work and many of them showed their displeasure in their attitude to the lies and worthless information Ibrahim Babangida was getting out through them at the Network News.

Tokunbo Ajai died in London, England on August 18, 2000. The news of her death caught many by surprise. The shock and suddenness of Tokunbo's demise has left many wondering about what really happened to her. She was said to have been on holiday in the United Kingdom when she died. An unnamed source at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) only said Tokunbo died in her sleep. It was said that she arrived in London just a few days before her death after going through a traumatic experience in her home in Abuja.

The facts of that Abuja experience have never been made public but many have said they resulted indirectly in her death.


Tokunbo was 37 years old when she died. She had dreams and hopes that died with her. Her death left a vacuum in her family and her three brothers miss her a lot. Her aged parents are at a loss of word about their loss, the loss of a daughter with huge promise and future.

Tokunbo attended Queens College in Yaba, Lagos and the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos where she obtained a Diploma in Mass Communication.

Tokunbo loved broadcasting and news casting was her major forte. She loved it and enjoyed it. She gave it her all and was determined to leave her mark. One of her friends and colleague at the NTA Network News service those days, Eugenia Abu felt the loss personally. In an interview with The Street Hawker, a Nigerian Magazine, Eugenia said:
"We miss Tokunbo Ajayi very much. She was a very special broadcaster with very special skills and very professional to the core. Tokunbo my friend, and when she died I was totally shattered, partly because, today in broadcasting you are not likely to see such professional. At the top, yes, but at the bottom, it is an all comers affair. You see a lot of people who think they are pretty, but fail to understand that beauty is not synonymous with professionalism."

How do you account for the loss of such a talented news personality and presenter? How do you deal with the way she was said to have been humiliated and her life cut shot, which resulted in her death? Tokunbo devoted her entire life to broadcasting and news casting and she was simple and selfless. How could a society like ours continue to waste lives and annihilate dreams?

The loss of Tokunbo Fehintola Ajai is just one of many in Nigeria but for those who have lost loved ones and friends in such grueling manner, this is just senseless, painful and unforgettable. We will never forget that lively, bright and consummate broadcaster who held so much promise and was determined to do very well among the pantheon of news casting gods at the NTA. How can we ever forget her and her rich voice that daily bring news to us, a face and a strong voice that we often look forward to seeing and hearing?

http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/babsajayi/101909.html

Personally, she inspired me to go into broadcasting. Because of her, at the age of 8, I was always listening to Network News.

Photo: Tokunbo with Samson Lipuka and another friend during a journalistic trip at the Dead Sea, Israel (From the file of Samson Lipuka)

One of the greatest newscasters we'll ever know

Indomie generation dunno

omonla10:
One of the greatest newscasters we'll ever know

Yes, i agree with you!

He is dead but his manhood lives on.
RIP a great man
19's kids would never know you then...

Why this people they mention me na! Mind your business abeg

Aww! Just like yesterday...! I remember mourning her as if I knew her personally, but these guys were idols to me then in my pre-teen years. Rip Tokunbo Ajai!!!

Rip 2pac Shakur #20yrs today!

Too bad ,

That was a fine lady that pic doesn't do justice to her true looks and beauty .
I think she was alleged to have poisoned her self ....

Rip

Tokunbo Ajayi
NTA NEWS!


RIP

She was always on this her signature glasses and had this masculine physique with a velvety female voice.

Started from NTA chanell 10 Tejuosho before she moved to the NTA network centre in news casting

R.I.P Toks.

She is great

I ɖօռ't know her oº°˚˚˚°º‎o

Remember her! Continue to RIP

Ma we miss you

RIP

naija is now worse than you left it

A bag of rice now sells for #22,000

exchange rate is now 1$ = #425

1litre of petrol is now #145

Ma we have handed our country to a Man who seems not to know what he's doing...A man who promised us change but now is telling us to change ourselves before we see the real change



the only thing that is as yhu left it is our Police and Nepa...


sleep on Ma...for Naija is now a Living Hell

Wen I was young I love her like mad

She always glued me to my tv at a very young age
Rip madam love u

From orobs

So she Don die?





RIP

May she rest in peace

If you remember this woman, you probably have major responsibilities now

Heart break nani

'I'm Tokunbo Ajayi, and Im Cyril Stober'.........memories.
It was said she committed suicide after being raped at her home by a notorious robber/serial rapist in Abuja. The man was nabbed sometime later.

so this woman don die? I thought she retired may hersoul rest in peace

This lady came to my mind few days ago.

.

Don't really remember the face again though, but her name was an household name on NTA news.

Continue to rest in the Lord Toks.

Sorry I don't know you o

How time flies

Don't really remember the face again though, but her name was an household name on NTA news.

Continue to rest in the Lord Toks.

And for those guys that confess that they were the one that raped you, let God be their judge.

[quote author=EddyNumerouno post=49328642]If you remember this woman, you probably have major responsibilities now[/quote

She came to my mind few days ago.

She was a good presenter. Loss of a dear one is never easy. I wish they let the experience she passed through be forgotten by the family. So unfortunate