Most of President Buhari’s media aides limit themselves on social media to official government business but for others, Social media platforms has become a battleground, a turf for peddling propaganda and misinformation and a weapon to discredit and shoot down opponents’ reputations. President Buhari’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie has committed all sorts of blunders on social media ranging from abusing commentators’ families to blatant lies. Just yesterday she referred to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe as a Buffon after referring former President Obasanjo as an angry bird. The presidency according to insider sources is now very concerned.
A highly reputable organisation ICIR Nigeria has conducted a research on her fallacious posts and here are some excerpts:
Lauretta Onochie, in September 2018, tweeted a picture of an asphalt road being constructed. She captioned it “Nasarawa-Jos Road”, giving the impression that it was a road constructed by the government, but it is actually a stock photo
uploaded to Getty Images in November 2015. The inaccuracy triggered a wave of sarcastic tweets under the hashtag #TweetLikeLaurettaOnochie . She then pulled down the tweet and apologised for the “big mistake” saying “it won’t happen again”.
In December 2018 showing foodpacks bundled with N500 notes. She claimed Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate in the 2019 election, had shared the money with voters. It turned out that the picture was not taken at an Atiku campaign rally but had actually been put out in February 2017 by a Lagos – based charity organisation during an outreach.
Four pictures appeared on Onochie’s timeline in September 2018 showing what was suggested as low-cost housing projects in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, funded by the Federal Government. But one picture was first uploaded in April 2014 by the Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme. The houses were built as part of the state government’s Rent-to-Own Programme that supports first-time buyer residents.
Another picture is actually of a bungalow at the Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate in Odoragushin, Lagos. Former Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was photographed inspecting the estate in November 2016. A third picture dates back to at least 2016 and has been used in articles about housing projects in Malaysia, Guyana and Kenya. The ICIR traced the last picture, to affordable housing that was planned for Revelstoke in British Columbia, Canada.
None of the four pictures, therefore, show housing projects in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In April 2019, Onochie shared a picture with her followers in which she praised then Borno State governor Kashim Shettima for launching “Africa’s biggest Automated Solar Panel manufacturing plant”. The tweet was liked 1,309 times and shared by 587 users of the social media platform. Checks, however, show the picture that is credited to senior airman Larry E. Reid Jr ( staff sergeant at the US Air Force), is over 11 years old and depicts a solar power plant in Las Vegas in the US.
In July 2019, Onochie uploaded a picture with a caption lamenting the loss of lives to inter-communal clashes in Cross River State. However, the picture was taken in January 2012 by Reuters photographer Akintunde Akinleye. It shows protesters chanting slogans “as they march through Ikorodu road during a protest against a fuel subsidy removal in Lagos”.
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Doctored image
Two days before the presidential election in February 2019, Onochie shared a picture on Twitter which seemed to show three soldiers dressed in heavy camouflage guarding a ballot box.“Self-explanatory,” said her caption, “God bless Nigeria.” The tweet came after Buhari had instructed the security agencies to deal with anyone who attempted to disrupt the election and said whoever tried snatching ballot boxes did so “at the expense of his life”.
Scrutinizing the picture reveals that it is a combination of two photos.
The photo of the soldiers in ghillie suits dates back to April 2018 when it was taken by AFP freelance photographer Stefan Heunis at a military demonstration held in Abuja. It was joined to a picture of a ballot box used at St. David’s Anglican Primary School, Afao, during the 2018 gubernatorial elections in Ekiti. This was uploaded by The Cable in July 2018 to its liveblog of the collation process.
The misleading combination went viral, with a number of blogs sharing it as though it were genuine.
Again, in February 2019, she uploaded a Facebook status screenshot that said “‘Atiku becoming president is like hearing that a former armed robber is now your bank manager’ – OBJ (My Watch, page 49)”.
The ICIR reviewed the pages cited, which didn’t contain anything close to the quotes tweeted. Pages 31 and 32 narrate how Obasanjo settled on Abubakar as his running mate and the regrets he later had. It contains some unpleasant remarks about Abubakar －mentioning a “somewhat shadowy” parental background, propensity to corruption and poor judgment – but does not indict him for large-scale stealing during his time in power. Pages 49 of all three volumes make no mention of Abubakar or his likeness to an armed robber.
Other excerpts published from the book about Abubakar also do not contain the two quotes shared by Onochie. The quotes are, thus, misattributed. It must be recalled that her case with the former vice president Atiku Abubakar is still in court.
With all these atrocities she may soon be on her way out. It must be recalled that she came from the UK to assume her current position in which she is pitching citizens against themselves, Insulting others much as she likes, even religious bodies are not spared, no condition is permanent she will one day be made answerable for her crimes.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
