This recognition arrived quietly, wrapped in silence and absence. It was a moment I never imagined, shaped not by celebration alone but by loss, reflection, and the lingering presence of John Ajayi. This award came at a time I never imagined it would.

A Week Defined by Loss and Silence

The past week has been defined by tears, shock, and an aching sense of loss that still feels unreal. The sudden passing of John Ajayi, Founder and Publisher of MARKETING EDGE has left a silence that now follows us into meetings, into conversations, and into moments that once carried his unmistakable presence.

When Recognition Arrived with Grief

When my name was announced as winner of the Media Excellence PR Journalist of the Year category at the 2025 Lagos PR Industry Gala and Awards (LaPRIGA), hosted by the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) at the Muson Centre, Lagos, the recognition did not come with the rush of excitement people often expect. Instead, it arrived gently, painfully layered with grief.

Memory Made the Moment Heavier

What made the moment even more poignant was memory. Just last year, this same award category was won by MARKETING EDGE through Abimbola Mohammed, our Senior Correspondent and Senior Content Writer.

As was our tradition, the award plaque was brought into the boardroom during one of our usual Monday morning meetings. That morning, our Visioneer, our Publisher, our indefatigable leader, John Ajayi, sat with pride written all over his face.

He commended the newsroom, applauded the editorial team, and reminded us once again that excellence had a permanent place on the stable of MARKETING EDGE.

The Man Who Lived for Excellence

That was who he was. He was deeply passionate about excellence. He was uncompromising about results. When we delivered outstanding work, he celebrated it with genuine joy, because for him, excellence was not seasonal or accidental, it was a culture. He demanded it in all ramifications and took personal pride in seeing the editorial team rise to industry relevance and credibility.

The Cycle Repeated But Without Him

This year, the cycle repeated but with a devastating difference. On every other Monday morning, I would walk into the office knowing that the award plaque would be presented formally, knowing that I would see him, hear his voice, feel his pride, and receive his words sometimes firm, sometimes warm, but always purposeful. This Monday, there was no meeting like that. His chair was empty. His presence was absent. And the reality of his exit cut deeper than ever.

A Smile the Camera Could Not Explain

As I stood on the LaPRIGA stage to receive the award plaque, I was visibly smiling. But what the photographs could not capture was the truth beneath that smile. It was a smile resting on a deeply wounded heart.

Emotionally, I was broken. In that moment, I understood the weight of the question: “O death, where is thy sting?” Because death had indeed stung quietly, suddenly, and in the most painful way.

Why This Award Will Always Be Different

This recognition will forever remain special to me not because my name was called, but because of when it came. It will forever remind me of the day, the week, the month, and the year my boss, my mentor, my Publisher, my newsroom father bid us farewell. It will always carry the memory of receiving applause in a season of mourning, of holding an award plaque while holding back tears.

The Struggle to Even Tell This Story

For days, I struggled with whether I even had the strength to write about this recognition. Joy felt incomplete. Celebration felt misplaced. Yet, I have come to understand that this award is inseparable from John Ajayi’s legacy.

It exists because of the standards he built, the values he defended, and the culture of excellence he institutionalised within MARKETING EDGE from the awards platform he birthed to the newsroom he nurtured.

The Values That Continue to Shape the Work

Consequently, throughout my career, my work has been shaped by the principles he believed in integrity, depth, balance, truth, and the courage to tell industry stories as they truly are. He believed journalism must be credible, data-driven, human-centred, and anchored on voices of real industry players. Those convictions live on in our work.

Not a Celebration, but a Tribute

So today, I choose to document this moment not as a personal triumph, but as a tribute.

A Dedication from the Heart

In honour, respect, and deep gratitude for his immeasurable sacrifices, I dedicate this award recognition first to God Almighty, the giver of life and grace. I dedicate it to John Ajayi, whose vision, passion for excellence, and unwavering standards shaped not just my journey, but an entire industry conversation.

Also, I dedicate it to the entire Editorial Department of MARKETING EDGE my colleagues, my family in purpose and in grief, who continue to carry forward the values he entrusted to us.

A Legacy That Speaks Louder Than Applause

This award may bear my name, but its meaning belongs to his legacy.

Written Through Tears, Lived Like a Loss of Family

Again,I must add that this story was written through uncontrollable tears, the kind that come from a loss too deep to measure. I am not missing John Ajayi merely at the level of a Founder–Publisher relationship. I am missing him in the way a daughter misses a father. That is the depth of this pain. That is the silence that now follows me.

Yet, I know that the only way to rise from this grief is to keep delivering. To keep working. To keep building on the legacies he intentionally laid. There is no doubt that excellence was his language, his passion, and his lifelong pursuit. Honouring him means sustaining that standard, guarding it jealously, and ensuring that the values he stood for continue to speak long after the tears have dried.

A Minute of Silence, A Lifetime of Conviction

Meanwhile, at the awards ceremony, a one-minute silence was observed in honour of John Ajayi. In that brief, heavy moment, the room stood still but my mind travelled far. I flashed back to who he truly was: his personality, his discipline, his uncommon standards, and the way he valued excellence above convenience or compromise.

More than anything else, that reflection ignited something within me. I realised that this very award I received is a living symbol of what he stood for. It represents excellence the same excellence he defended relentlessly, celebrated openly, and institutionalised deliberately. In that silence, grief met purpose, and sorrow met resolve. And I understood, with clarity, that even in his absence, his values continue to speak loudly, unmistakably, and enduringly.