Peter Obi and Bayo Onanuga’s red herring, by Ikechukwu Amaechi

Ikechukwu Amaechi expresses dismay at the remarks made by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, during a recent Arise Television interview. Amaechi contends that Onanuga, tasked with defending the current administration, exhibited insensitivity to the plight of ordinary Nigerians, a trait he claims has marked Onanuga's past stints in power.

Amaechi references Onanuga's tenure as Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in 2016. He highlights social media posts from September 6, 2016, where Onanuga allegedly accused the Nigerian media of "over-sensationalisation" and deliberately discrediting the then-Buhari government. Onanuga reportedly dismissed reports of hardship as "mere propaganda" and "so-called," citing his personal experiences of affordable food and full flights as counter-evidence.

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I was in Bauchi and Jos at the weekend, I also found that food was cheap everywhere. In our hotel, we paid about N700 for a plate of semovita, or eba with a choice of catfish or chicken. On the roadside, I found to my surprise that with just N1000, I bought over 50 oranges, two giant water melon and 10 pieces of sweet potato. I had experienced a similar thing in the market at Abuja, where I found that with N1,400, I could make a big vegetable soup, with tomato, pepper and roasted Titus fish.

"I was in Bauchi and Jos at the weekend, I also found that food was cheap everywhere," Onanuga wrote, according to Amaechi. He further detailed purchasing meals for around N700 and fruits and vegetables for N1000-N1400, questioning if the media was painting a "correct image of our country" and urging a "reality check."

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Are the media and bloggers really painting a correct image of our country? It’s time for the media to objectively conduct a reality check about our reports, whether we are not over sensationalising so-called hardship that we talked about.

Amaechi draws a parallel between Onanuga's past statements and his recent defense of the Tinubu administration. He notes that Onanuga's assertion that Nigerians are "pigeon-holed into certain assumptions" and his claims about the president's "unprecedented feat of turning around the country's parlous lot in so short a time" echo his earlier dismissiveness of public complaints about hardship.

The author suggests that Onanuga's current stance, including his alleged claim that his Ijebu kinsmen are not complaining and are enjoying the benefits of Tinubu's regime, is consistent with his past behavior of downplaying economic suffering and framing it as orchestrated propaganda.

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My daughter was on the Virgin Atlantic flight that took off from Lagos to London today. I asked her to find out whether the plane was filled up or going to London near empty judging by the noisy campaign from a section of the country about the ‘hardship’ in our country. My daughter sent back this one-line text, after boarding: “daddy, the flight was filled up . This makes me to wonder whether all the seeming orchestrated campaign in the media was not mere propaganda to make the Buhari regime look really bad.