Protest: Tinubu using propaganda, misinformation, disinformation as state policy

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Following the appeal video posted by President Bola Tinubu’s X handle but later dismissed on Wednesday as old by the Presidency, former vice president Atiku Abubakar has accused the administration of adopting propaganda, misinformation and disinformation as a state policy.

Atiku said in a statement issued by his media aide, Paul Ibe on Thursday that the posting of the video and its subsequent denial was emblematic of the nature of the Tinubu media team and how they rate the #EndBadGovernance protest.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election accused the administration of trying to deceive Nigerians with the video.

The statement reads: “In the afternoon of Wednesday and on Day 7 of the #EndBadGivernanceInNigeria protest, the official X handle (formerly known as Twitter) of President Bola Tinubu posted a video clip of the President making an appeal to Nigerians to relax the protest and give his administration more time.

“The video went viral on social media and it was adjudged to have shown more empathy for the concerns of protesting Nigerians, unlike the shambolic speech by the President on Sunday that will forever be remembered in ignominy.

“Curiously, much later in the evening of the same day, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, made a post on his X handle telling the country that the video clip that was posted on the President’s handle, “is not a new video. It’s a clip from a broadcast he made last year.” What a wawu!

“The scenario says a lot about the character of the Tinubu presidency, the proficiency of his media managers, and the attitude that the presidency accords the current #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.

“For a start, what the Tinubu presidency did with the old video is to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians, with a view to distract them. It’s a mannerism that is symptomatic of this presidency.

“This president and his media managers are a class act in propaganda.

“It is indeed shameless that in a time where misinformation and disinformation is being blamed for public outrage in many parts of the world, the Nigerian government is caught red-handed in the act, adopting it as a state policy.

“The flip-flopping episode that played out in the management of the President’s social media handle typifies the Tinubu administration’s policy flip-flops, and trial-and-error policies. It is for this very reason that the country has been on a tight noose since the beginning of the administration.

“Obviously, the president’s media team knew they did a poor job in the Sunday broadcast by the president and in trying to make amends, came out to do what they know how to do best: deploy propaganda.

“This type of dysfunctional narrative is why Nigerians have lost confidence in the Tinubu administration. It is obvious even to the blind and the deaf that this government is deficient in credibility.

“As a matter of urgency, the Nigerian people deserve an unreserved apology from the Tinubu presidency for leading them into a tailspin of misinformation and disinformation and the attendant consequence of bad governance.”

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