Quite a number of concerned Nigerians are still befuddled at how the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has managed to still keep his job after a year full of inciting, careless and seemingly unguarded statements on social media.

The presidential aide has at different times been at the receiving end of brutal backlashes from the general public for one wrong comment or the other.

As President Buhari’s government clocks a calendar year, here is how in 10 quotes Adesina has succeeded in making himself as the number one public enemy.

 

1. “If PDP has begun to cry wolf where there was none on INEC chairman, then they should be set for louder lamentations. The wailing wailers.”– July 1, 2015

Adesina, lambasting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the All Progressives Congress won the general elections.

To many, he predicted the perceived persecution of PDP members.

*Wailing wailers- globally known as the iconic Jamaican band led by Bob Marley but modified by Adesina to describe anyone who is not in support of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

2. “Decisive parley. President Buhari meets governors of the 36 states this morning from 10 a.m. Bailout? We wait.”

Adesina posted this on his Twitter page on June 23, 2015.

To many, the tweet appeared to be a headline for a juicy scoop and Nigerians – increasingly growing impatient with the information stinginess of the administration – were lividly unimpressed and as such, attacked the presidential mouthpiece in droves.

 

3. On July 20, 2015, during Buhari’s visit to the United States of America, Adesina posted on his Twitter page, “Breakfast with VP Joe Biden. Meeting with Obama at White House. Meets John Kerry, Secretary of State tomorrow. America salutes PMB,” and for various reasons, Nigerians lashed out at him – with full force.

See reactions here.

 

4. “No matter what you do, one thing is certain- Nigerians will always complain.”

Adesina belittled Nigerians during an interview with Daily Independent in March 2016 because they complained about President Buhari’s frequent travel abroad.

 

5. “If he wants, President Buhari could have influenced the case if he doesn’t respect the rule of law. All he needs to do is to lean a bit on the judge and say ‘send this man to jail’ and Fani – Kayode will be in jail today.”

While trying to convince Nigerians that President Buhari is not a imposing tyrant, Adesina succeeded in giving more life to the assertion.

In the mangled way of fate, Fani-Kayode is currently in the custody of the Federal Government.

Another prophesy?

 

6. “If some Nigerians are crying over power outage, they should hold those people who vandalized the installations responsible. That’s it!”

It’s pretty obvious why this statement from Adesina caused an uproar through the nation.

In an interview on Channels TV, Adesina defends the government’s inability to provide electricity for the populace and blames pipeline vandals – he however soiled his argument with the above statement.

He must not have known that the government, not the masses is responsible for the security of installations by law.

 

7. “The wailing wailers, you’d see that I used that expression not quite a month or two into the life of the administration.

“Now, how will a new administration…and maybe whenever the president says something, you just start hearing noise, wah, wah, wah, wah, like a child whose lollipop has been taken away.”

Speaking at ‘The Osasu Show’, Adesina blasted Nigerians who complained that President Buhari did not condole with the victims of the Agatu community who were attacked by Fulani herdsmen.

He likened the citizens to spoiled kids whose lollipop had been taken away- but the kids voted his boss into office.

 

8. “The same people accept that the world has become a global village but when it comes to the President speaking, they will say he is speaking from abroad. If the world is indeed a global village, does it matter where you say anything?”

A reply to grievances registered by Nigerians following a string of important announcements made by the President while speaking on foreign media platforms while constantly ignoring local media outfits.

 

9. “When anything happens and the presidency has spoken on it, anybody who wants to remain deaf to it, there’s then nothing that can be done.”

Adesina reacts to Buhari’s failure to visit Agatu.

 

10. “It is mendacious to say that in the last one year, what Nigerians have been experiencing is suffering. It is not true. That can only be a private opinion. Whoever holds that opinion has a right to it but to say that all Nigerians have experienced in the last one year is suffering is not true.”

Nigerians did not take this comment lightly as they variously pummeled Adesina on the various social media platforms available.

See a reaction here.