Armsfree Ajanaku is a communications strategist, journalist and activist with over two decade experience straddling developmental journalism, strategic communications and program implementation. He was Fact-Checking and Countering Disinformation Lead Consultant at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa).
A graduate of History/International Relations from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he is also a current Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom studying Development with a focus on Peace, Conflict, Security.
All through his civic activism, Armsfree has focused on critical thematic concerns like information literacy, inclusive local governance, countering disinformation, media and democracy, climate change adaptation and mitigation. He began his journalism career as features writer at The Guardian, the flagship of the Nigerian Press.
Internationally too, he worked variously as a development writer for organizations such as Panos London, a UK media charity, Internews Europe, the Earth Journalism Network and the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) and the Heinrich Boell Stiftung, the International NGO affiliated to the Green Party in Germany.
Armsfree designed and communicated key messages for various civic coalitions and organizations, including efforts to combat fake news, misinformation and disinformation during elections in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
Given these diverse experiences, especially within the purview of combatting information disorder, he has been placed in the right stead to coordinate various civic initiatives focused on training and mentoring of fact checkers, and supporting them to effectively respond to the disinformation ecosystem, which is deeply entrenched in Nigeria.
Apart from attending international events such as the UN Climate talks in Durban, South Africa, the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was also a delegate and expert presenter at the Alternative Resource Summit in Berlin, Germany and at the RightsCon Digital Conferences in Johannesburg, South Africa and Taipei, Taiwan.
He founded the Grassroots Center for Rights & Civic Orientation (GRACO) to advocate for information integrity and inclusive democratic governance across Nigeria’s Local Government Areas.
