As Mayor, she will serve as ceremonial head of the council, represent the borough at official engagements, preside over civic functions, and act as a key public figure within community life across North London.
Ogunro succeeds Jason Jackson, under whom she previously served as Deputy Mayor before rising through the council’s leadership structure to assume the mayoral chain of office.
At 73, her elevation reflects a long and varied public life spanning broadcasting, community advocacy, cultural engagement, and political service across Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Her journey began in Nigeria’s broadcasting sector, within the Voice of Nigeria environment, where she worked as a continuity announcer.
The role placed her at the centre of live radio transmission, requiring precision, composure, and discipline in a high-pressure environment where programming unfolded in real time.
That early career would later become linked to one of the most dramatic episodes in Nigerian media history.
On Friday, 13 February 1976, during an early morning duty shift in Lagos, armed soldiers reportedly stormed Broadcasting House in Ikoyi during the attempted coup led by the late Lt.-Col. Buka Suka Dimka.
Ogunro was on duty when the station was taken over, and a coup announcement was broadcast live, declaring the assassination of Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, alongside the imposition of a dawn-to-dusk curfew.
Inside the continuity studio, operations fell under armed control as soldiers dictated broadcast activity.
Ogunro was reportedly instructed at gunpoint to continue transmission and to play martial music immediately after the announcement, as the station operated under crisis conditions.
As the situation unfolded, then Director-General Dr. Christopher Kolade intervened to stabilise operations. He advised that the announcement be recorded rather than repeatedly aired live every 15 minutes, a decision widely credited with reducing immediate risk within the broadcasting house during the volatile period.
Outside the studio, the crisis escalated further as military forces later surrounded Broadcasting House and opened fire on the facility in an attempt to regain control.
Bullets reportedly tore through doors, shattered glass partitions, and damaged studio equipment and record racks.
Staff on duty, including Ogunro and colleagues inside the continuity studio, took cover as the building shook under sustained gunfire.
Dust and debris fell within the control areas as the attack intensified, forcing staff to remain sheltered until the shooting eventually subsided and evacuation became possible.
The incident remains one of the most significant and violent moments in the history of Nigerian broadcasting, remembered for the sudden collapse of routine transmission into armed crisis control.
Following her years in Nigeria’s broadcasting environment, Ogunro later moved into community advocacy and public service in the United Kingdom.
She worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau, supporting residents with housing issues, administrative challenges, welfare concerns, and access to public services, strengthening her connection to grassroots community needs.
Alongside her civic work, she also maintained a strong presence in cultural life as a music artiste, with involvement in choral performance and associations linked to the London Symphony Orchestra Choir.
Her entry into local government was built on years of community participation, eventually leading to her service as Deputy Mayor before rising to assume the chain of office as Mayor of Islington.
For Nigerians in the diaspora and the wider broadcasting community, Ogunro’s elevation carries a symbolic weight that goes beyond local politics.
It reflects a journey that began inside the demanding world of live radio transmission in Nigeria and has now extended into civic leadership at the heart of one of London’s most diverse boroughs.
In broadcasting circles, her story stands as a reminder of the profession’s reach beyond the studio , how voices shaped behind the microphone can evolve into leadership, influence, and public service on a global stage.
For many watching from Nigeria, it is also a moment of quiet pride, marking how paths forged in the country’s media space continue to find expression and recognition far beyond its borders.
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