By Olakunle Adelaja
Before he was appointed the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga had already proven he would be a liability to President Bola Tinubu’s administration. As one of the spokespersons of his presidential campaign, Onanuga was unhinged. He had no restrain, and lacked the speech finesse of an image maker that his assignment demanded.
Onanuga effectively alienated Nigerians who did not support Tinubu during the electioneering campaign with his pugnacious and hateful statements, many thought were unbefitting of a man in his position. And because of that, supporters of President Tinubu secretly wished he would not appoint Onanuga as his presidential spokesman.
This was why the appointment of Ajuri Ngelale as the special adviser to the president on media was welcomed by many Nigerians, including Tinubu supporters. Ngelale did not have the type of moral and political baggage that Onanuga carried on his head. He looks more sober and more circumspect than the combative Onanuga.
President Tinubu also appeared to have been aware of Onanuga’s shortcoming when he eventually gave him appointment as the special adviser on Information and strategy, which many believed was an afterthought. The statement announcing his appointment gave his job description “as part of efforts to prioritise effective and efficient working synergy between the Presidency and Federal Ministries.”
In essence, he was appointed a presidential liaison officer that should be shuttling between the presidency and MDAs, and away from the media. But Onanuga likes the limelight and he found a way to insert himself into the presidential media structure. He issues statements once in a while, much to the consternation of Ngelale who understandably loathed him. He deliberately set himself in competition with Ngelale and did everything to undermine the man who eventually had to quit last week.
After scheming Ngelale’s exit from the villa, Onanuga has now found the latitude to run riot again like a dog that broke from a leash. He is now breathing fresh air in the villa now that the man who held him in check had left.
On Tuesday he issued one of his incendiary statements that must have caused even ardent supporters of the administration to shake their heads in obvious discomfort. The statement, entitled “Nigeria, a country governed by law, categorically denies any human rights abuse,” was simply meant to correct any wrong impression the Trade Union Congress of the United Kingdom may have had about the Tinubu administration due to the arrest of NLC president, Joe Ajaero, by the DSS last Monday.
But in his characteristic manner, he went beyond his brief to attack the NLC and the TUC for opposing government policies. But he found no particular policy to mention except labour’s opposition to the sale of Nigeria’s refineries to Aliko Dangote in 2007!
Onanuga wrote: “Seventeen years after the labour movement forced the successor government of Umar Yar’ Adua to cancel the sale of the two refineries, none of the four government-owned refineries worked. In the obverse, Mr. Aliko Dangote, one of the promoters of Bluestar, has built the largest single-train refinery in the world. In a twist of fate, the same Labour Movement that fiercely opposed Dangote from taking over the two refineries in 2007 hailed him on completing his 650,000-bpd refinery in Lagos.”
What was the need to bring up the opposition to the sale of NNPC refineries to Dangote in a statement meant to set the records straight on Tinubu administration’s human rights record? Or was he trying to vindicate Dangote?
Well, everyone knows his paper, PM News, has supported Dangote in his battle with the NNPCL over supply of crude to his refinery and over pricing of his products, especially petrol. It’s even believed that he’s among the media owners on the payroll of Dangote in his battle with the Tinubu administration.
Tinubu is the minister of petroleum resources and it is surprising that a man who claims to work as information and strategy adviser to the president acts without any strategic thinking! Dangote has single-handedly embarrassed the Tinubu administration by spewing half-truths and obvious lies against Nigeria’s oil and gas sector operations to gain undue public empathy.
In July, when Dangote appeared before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (downstream and midstream), he lied to make a case for the products of his refinery. It was his response to regulatory authorities who had questioned the quality of products coming from his refinery located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
He had said, “Some of the terminals, some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened blending plants somewhere off Malta. We all know these areas. We know what they are doing, “adding that the NNPCL had been importing substandard fuel.
Of course, the claim rattled the Tinubu administration since the president is also the petroleum minister, and the smooth operation of the sector rests squarely on his shoulders. He is also responsible for what the NNPCL does and doesn’t do.
But it was the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, who appeared to understand Dangote’s game, that broke the ice for the administration. Kyari challenged Dangote to publicly declare the names of NNPC personnel who operate a blending plant in Malta.
Kyari, in a post on X, asked Dangote “To clarify the allegations regarding blending plant, I do not own or operate any business directly or by proxy anywhere in the world with the exception of a local mini Agric venture. Neither am I aware of any employee of the NNPC, that owns or operates a blending plant in Malta or anywhere else in the world…”
Kyari also made it clear that a blending plant in Malta or any part of the world has no influence over NNPC’s business operations and strategic actions. He challenged Dangote to declare in public and report to relevant security agencies if he knew anyone in NNPCL who was involved in what he alleged.
Of course, Dangote never did any of that. He simply moved on from one blackmail to the other. But it was President Tinubu that was wounded more by Dangote’s false narratives, which suggested that the president had personal stakes in refineries outside the country because his nephew, Wale Tinubu, operates in the oil and gas industry. It was an angle to which the opposition latched on to further undermine the Tinubu administration.
This is the man that Onanuga has elevated in a presidential statement! How strategic was that?
On August 22, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, latched on to Dangote’s lies to accuse Tinubu of integrating his business interests into Nigeria’s interests. A statement released by Atiku alleged that “Just as Alpha Beta, Primero, and others act as Tinubu’s proxies in Lagos, managing critical sectors and generating revenue for him and his family, he has begun to replicate this at the federal level.”
Attacking the NLC and the TUC for opposing privatisation of the refineries is also tactless, considering the role Tinubu played while in the opposition. Tinubu was one of the opposition leaders who kicked against privatising the refineries at the time. So, Onanuga was effectively condemning the role his principal played at the time which is what NLC and others are now doing.
This lack of strategic thinking had sunk Onanuga in his first public assignment as the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in 2016 under ex-president Muhammadu Buhari. But his appointment was not renewed in 2019 following dispute between him and staff of the organisation over his management style. No one heard anything about him again until 2023 when was appointed one of the spokespersons for Tinubu campaign.
But if anyone thought Onanuga would have become more cultivated and refined, that expectation has been dashed with the way he has carried on his assignment so far. There’s every reason to believe that Onanuga has become a burden that Tinubu is unwilling to shed because of past friendship. But the president would have to quickly make a decision on a suitable role for Onanuga in his administration.
It’s obvious he’s not cut for the current job that has been given to him. He is a poor researcher and had goofed several times in the past on data and facts. He regularly deleted his tweets after realising he made careless errors. Like when he claimed that Tinubu secured an $600 million investment commitment from Maersk, a global shipping firm during the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia in April. He later deleted the post after it generated controversy.
As a supporter of President Tinubu, I hope he doesn’t allow him to replace Ngelale as his spokesman. That would be a disaster. Onanuga should be tucked away from public view because he’s a public irritant. Tinubu needs people who can promote his administration, not those who would undermine it.
The president will not lose anything if Onanuga is fired today. Enough of his garbage!
Olakunle Adelaja is a public affairs analyst. He writes from Lagos.
