Lade Bonuola became popular in the newspaper industry while at Daily Times, during which he was a sub-editor. He later became features editor of the publication. He wrote a column ‘Caught Out’ under the penname Ladbone (coined from his first and last names) in which he spotted common grammatical error across newspapers of the era. Hence the nickname, Ladbone.
He was a part of the team that engineered the establishment of The Guardian in the early 80s which heralded an era of lofty heights for Nigerian journalism, with The Guardian emerging as the leading newspaper. He was the pioneer editor of the newspaper from 1982-1988 and assumed leadership of the group between 1989-1999 as its managing director.
Lade Bonuola co-founded and served as the managing director of The Comet newspaper and he was the publisher of the Nigerian Compass from 2009-2011. In a bio by a Guardian features editor, Mr Lade Bonuola is a consummate newspaper man. He read most of the newspapers in circulation, and remained on top of the major social, economic and political developments. But there was no doubt that judicial/legal issues were his favourite. He never joked with anything concerning Frederick Rotimi Alade (FRA) Williams, Abdul-Ganiyu “Gani” Oyesola Fawehinmi, Kehinde Sofola and other legal luminaries. He introduced “Cause List” in The Guardian, the first in any Nigerian newspaper; as well as “Flight Guardian”, under which the flight schedules of all national carriers were published.
He also had undisguised admiration for religion and religious personages. Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, first gained popularity for his column “Sunday Worship”, in The Guardian. Soon, he got a popular Muslim cleric to write “Friday Worship”, as he was always seeking balance. For the children’s page, Mr. Bonuola went all the way to get one of Nigeria’s pioneering women writers Mabel Segun (Nee Imoukhuede), who turned 90 earlier in 2020.
He created “Motoring Guardian” for do-it-yourself (DIY) tips on car maintenance which led to scouting for automobile engineers around the neighbouring Ladipo area to sustain the page.
Lade Bonuola is the Chairman, VerityHeights Bureau Limited, and an online publication focused on the expansion of knowledge.