The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has described those claiming not to have seen proof of President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance as pretenders.
He made the assertion in an interview with Vanguard published on Sunday.
Adesina said: “Some people pretend that they don’t see those things the President has done and is still doing but, however much they pretend, Nigerians know it.”
He also accused the traditional media of slanting news negatively against the Buhari administration and described the social media as the “world headquarters of fake news”.
Adesina explained, “I will like to divide the media into the mainstream, which is traditional, and the digital, particularly the social media and the online media.
“I wouldn’t accuse the mainstream media much of publishing fake news. Rather, they slant news. They slant things against the government, slant things against the President, slant things against even we his spokesmen.
“And when I say they slant, I mean they slant news from negative perspectives to paint the government in bad light. But I won’t accuse them of fake news outright.
“But, of course, the social media, that is the world headquarters of fake news. They just sit down and concoct anything, manufacture anything and publish it as if it is true.”
The presidential spokesman added that social media posts do not bother him anymore.
“Well, social media is free-for-all. So, people take liberty from the fact that there is some anonymity to it. You are not even sure of the name that they are using as to whether they are correct names. Therefore, they can say anything. They can use whatever language, however uncouth that language is.
“So, it is free –for-all and we should not let that bother us. I have got to a point that such people’s posts on social media do not bother me again.”
