Nigeria’s minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, has denied owning a Twitter account after the one associated with her for months mis-tweeted in reaction to the country’s statistics bureau’s official announcement of the worst recession the country has faced in 29 years.
A Twitter account, @MrsKemiAdeosun which has been promoting her speeches, official assignments, is followed and referenced by officials in the Buhari government, and has unusual access to the minister, is suddenly being denied because of the “recession is just a word tweet”.
1. @mrskemiadeosun’s statement yesterday was an out of line, insensitive attempt at signalling. pic.twitter.com/xvj2F2RXTP
— #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) September 1, 2016
The Twitter account, up until Thursday, was denoted as the “official Twitter account of the Minister of Finance of Nigeria”. That description has been removed just before the press statement by Adeosun’s media adviser, Festus Akanbi denying her ownership of the account.
https://twitter.com/Mrskemiadeosun/status/664471875062521856
ALSO READ: Adeosun’s Insensitivity Insults Nigerians – PDP Lampoons Finance Minister [TWEETS]
A statement on Thursday, September 1, 2016 by Akanbi said, “The Twitter handle currently trending, and any other twitter handle presently in existence is not, and cannot be that of the honourable minister, as a twitter account has not yet been set up for her.
“It is obviously fake and does not represent the views and opinions of the honourable minister.
“Also at no time did the honourable minister, who addressed the media immediately after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council, make such a statement,” the statement said.
But an All Progressives Congress-leaning blog, The Scoop burst the bubble for Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, “Her statement is clearly untrue. First, she did say ‘recession is a word’. There is a video to even show that.”
The blog also had this to say, “Rather than this implausible statement, what Adeosun and Akanbi should have said was that there is a broader context which is being ignored in the outrage. She was trying to make the point that Nigeria can come out of the current recession and make it as short as possible if we stick to certain prescriptions. That is not an outrageous thing to say. This denial is the outrageous stuff.”
Akanbi’s statement also tried to do some more damage control. “The minister has consistently demonstrated empathy for the plight of Nigerians hard hit by dwindling oil prices and the impact on the economy,” it added.
“This administration is known for integrity and has never hidden the true situation of things from Nigerians, rather it has looked for ways to alleviate the hardships through social intervention programmes.
“We therefore enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard these spurious allegations against the Honourable Minister of Finance.
“We remain committed to reflating and resetting the economy on a path towards sustainable growth,” it concluded.
