by Samuel Okike

Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode is quite skilled at keeping his mouth shut whenever there’s a controversy surrounding him.But to be fair, I think it will be more just to accord the blame to his media and public relations teams. Those guys are a colossal disaster.

But to be fair, I think the blame for the governor’s defeaning silence should be laid at the doorsteps of his media and public relations teams. Those guys are a colossal disaster.

In an age as this when there are so many – in fact too many – medium for communication and citizen engagement, it’s really appalling that Ambode’s media team have failed to advise him on why and how to address controversies whenever they arise.

Earlier this year, when news broke that the Lagos state government had rendered thousands of Lagosians homeless in Otodo Gbame after he illegally authorised the destruction of their homes, the state government released a lame response, saying it would not be blackmailed.

Barely three weeks ago, a man blamed Ambode and the APC for being behind the death of his new born baby. The man, simply identified as Bashir said son died while he was in a traffic gridlock caused by the meeting of the party in the state.

Bashir, a staff of the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) expressed his anger via his Twitter account, @Sauce231.

He said, “@AkinwunmiAmbode@APCNigeria, thanks to you guys today for the road you blocked without prior notice. My eight-day-old boy died in the traffic.

“My boy died in traffic on the way to the hospital, the day after his naming ceremony.”

Till date, the Lagos state government is yet to issue a statement on the incident. The level of apathy to the plight of citizen’s in some cases by the Ambode media team is worrisome.

Last week, another controversial news story broke that Ambode had fired the ex-Presiding Chaplain of ‘Chapel of Christ the Light,’ Venerable Femi Taiwo, and evicted him and his family from their residence because he ‘disrespected’ the first lady, Bolanle Ambode, by not showing her preference during an anointing service.

Considering Ambode’s recent history of controversy, the news quickly caused a ruckus on the internet. Normally, one would expect that the governor’s media team would take to one of the several social media platforms to address the controversy and possibly dispel rumours going around, but seeing that Ambode’s media team is a disaster there was nothing like that on their agenda. They said nothing and moved on like the matter was unimportant.

Predictably, they kept mute and allowed people to keep ranting on as if saying ‘Continue talking. When you people are tired you will shut up.’

As sad as this is, it’s not a new thing with Ambode and his media team. It’s a trend we have come to expect.

Ambode believes that if you avoid something it would eventually go away, and obviously, this hasn’t been the case for them.

If Ambode’s media team cannot learn from the likes of DigiCommsNG (https://twitter.com/DigiCommsNG) which handles media for the Federal government, then they have no business handling his media at all.