by Alexander O. Onukwue

The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, has just Mr Laolu Akande as the principal person in charge of his communications. President Buhari has at least four personnel who are in charge of that if you exclude Mr Tolu Ogunlesi who handles Digital Communications for the Presidency generally.

President Buhari is not great with communication, as a matter of fact. He is not like Donald Trump, who would rather make announcements directly via his own Twitter handle than wait for Sarah Huckabee Sanders to get up the podium. While Buhari has the strict persona about him, he has been known from his Idiagbon days to be the man who likes to let others do the job for him when it is possible.

It is somewhat impressive that he chose to have multiple personnel handling his communications, on the assumption that he wanted more reach given the advancement of communications technologies in the digital age. Social media as a real-time tool of communication is nearly inevitable for any modern administration because of the feedback that can be obtained from it.

The truth of the matter is that Ms Lauretta Onochie, the social media personal assistant, could have been tasked with any other portfolio on Buhari’s cabinet but still be about as tempestuous as she has been in her tweets and Facebook posts. She is really not saying all of the things she says because she is the aide whose job is to jab on social media, but out of her loyalty to the Buhari Government.

So what’s really the need for that office? And who pays for it anyway? Surely she cannot be paid by Nigerian taxpayers’ money just to be the lady who sits by a laptop just to tell Nigerians how disrespectful they are being to their president?

Never mind Resume or Resign, we could do with Open Lauretta right now.

Editor