TWITTER BAN: Buhari may sack Onochie, Ahmad, other social media aides – Sources

Presidency sources says media aides lobbying to retain their job

Sources in the Presidency have disclosed that some presidential aides on media may be sacked as they have been idle since the ban on social micro blogging giant, Twitter on Friday.

According to SaharaReporters, some of the top shots in the Presidency, who have an axe to grind with the overzealous social media aides, have been silently pushing for their sacking since Twitter was banned and the aides deemed to be idle.

It said it also gathered that the aides that may go include Bashir Ahmad, who tweets through @bashirahmaad, and is the Personal Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, and Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to the President on Social Media. Others are Tolu Ogunlesi, who is Special Assistant on Digital and New Media to the President.

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“Some of them will be asked to go. They are lobbying too to keep their jobs. Some top presidency chiefs believe these guys just sit on Twitter and do nothing. They only send out controversial tweets which ridicule Buhari the more. When you remove Twitter and Instagram from them, some of them are idle and useless,” a top source stated. 

“Since last Friday, some of the social media aides have been trying to change their portfolios and add new responsibilities, so that they can remain relevant. They are presently idle.”

Recall that, last Friday the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension of Twitter in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, citing the “persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

The Minister said the Federal Government had also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.