Renowned media manager and Communication Strategist, Dr. Barr Fred Latimore Ogjenesivbe, has advised President Mohammadu Buhari to immediately sack the federal Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Oghenesivbe in a statement on Tuesday June 8, 2021; and made available to newsmen in Asaba, said that recent autocratic and anti democratic statements by the information minister, had further compounded the worsening insecurity problems in the country, saying that the most ideal step to calm frayed nerves over the ban or suspension of Twitter, is to relieve Lai Mohammed of his job, as the mouthpiece of APC national government.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain also, in his statement, urged Mr President to do away with his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina, as well as the Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Garba Shehu, saying that their multifaceted anti democratic utterances are suggestive of an era of militocracy (an infusion of military dictatorial tendency with a mild democratic leadership style).
He further posited that the havoc caused by the unpatriotic black propaganda unleashed on the populace, had not only facilitated the renewed call for disintegration of Nigeria, but further portrayed the Buhari administration as a Jihad movement, and has compounded the already battered national and global image of President Buhari, in an unredeemable proportion.
Oghenesivbe, who is a Justice of the Peace and Executive Assistant to the Governor of Delta State on Communications, noted that the series of insecurity problems and crisis across the country, have been and still being fuelled by the arrogant, distasteful and unprofessional media propaganda strategies recently adopted by the trio of Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, adding that Nigerians across the country, neither want to hear their voices nor see their faces on local and national television, because of their collective misrepresentation of obvious mismanagement of facts of insecurity and other vexed issues in the country.
He posited that President Buhari, is like any other Twitter subscriber who must also adhere strictly to the rules guiding dissemination of information via his twitter handle, pointing out that whatever happened between Buhari and Twitter amounted to personal issue which he ought to have privately sorted out with Twitter management.
“To encroach on the fundamental rights of Nigerians on the basis of Buhari’s personal relationship with Twitter as a subscriber, is to say the least, abuse of power, pointing to show dictatorial tendencies which Lai Mohammed ought to have professionally managed and sorted out diplomatically with Twitter, but instead advised Mr President to take the wrong decision by suspending the social media platform, at the detriment of millions of Nigerian subscribers.
“Falsehood and black propaganda, as well as poorly managed national and global media from the ugly incident of #EndSars up till now, speaks of the gross inefficiency and lack of media crisis management ideas on the part of the information minister, Lai Mohammed, and the two presidential spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu.
“At this critical time of our nation’s predicaments occasioned by acute insecurity challenges, it will do President Buhari and APC national government some good if the presidency is able to muster the required political and leadership willpower to immediately sack the trio of Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu; and replace them with high breed professionals capable of crafting progressive media and information policies and programmes that will promote patriotism, unity, peaceful coexistence and reconciliatory information dissimilation strategies for the federal government and Mr President.
“Nigeria, can no longer afford to use tax payers money to fund divisive media propaganda and misleading information capable of fuelling disintegration and abuse of fundamental rights of citizens of this country, as can be seen from the alleged unpatriotic and unprofessional media and information mismanagement strategies adopted by those mentioned above,” Oghenesivbe added.
