What comes to mind when the name Josy Ajiboye is mentioned is his page, ‘Josy Ajiboye on Sunday,’ published in Sunday Times. With the page, he ran visual commentary on political and socio-cultural issues in Nigeria during the ‘Khaki’ years of oppression with his cartoons. His works spoke volumes to the teeming audience that followed him over his 29 years sojourn at the Daily Times from 1971 to 2000, rising from an assistant senior artist to an art editor.
A cartoonist and painter of great repute, Ajiboye hails from Erinmope Ekiti. After his secondary education, he worked as a trainee for African Challenge Magazine, a division of the Sudan Interior Mission (now ECWA). He would later study fine art at Yaba College of Technology and be taught by some of Nigeria’s prominent artists of the time, including Yusuf Grillo and Solomon Wangboje. He joined Daily Times’ Art Department in 1971. He retired into painting in 2000.
As a painter, he had his first exhibition in 1977 at the Gong Gallery, Lagos Island. He also had a solo exhibition at Terra Kulture in 2011. Josy Ajiboye has been a part of numerous exhibitions and received many awards for his decades of experience in journalism.
For his immense contribution to journalism, and cartooning in Nigeria, particularly during the military era, Josy Ajiboye is decorated with the Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence.