Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has come under severe fire from a cross-section of Nigerians, especially on social media, for her comments that recession is just a word.
The minister, who was reported to have made the comments via her Twitter handle @Mrskemiadeosun, disowned the account yesterday, saying she is not on the micro-blogging platform.
However, following the controversy that trailed her comments, we did a little finding of our own and this is what we came up with – while the said Twitter handle may not have belonged to Mrs. Adeosun, she indeed, made the comments attributed to that account.
We also discovered that in an attempt to defend and possibly, correct insinuations that she tried to play down the report of the National Bureau of Statistic, which officially declared that Nigeria had entered into a recession, Mrs. Adeosun may have lied.
RELATED POST: Minister Disowns Twitter Account That Dismissed Economic Recession As A “Word”
Her spokesman, Festus Akanbi, had while distancing his principal from the Twitter account, said yesterday that “The Twitter handle, @Mrskemiadeosun, does not belong to the Honourable Minister of Finance. At no point did she make that kind of statement in her interaction with the media after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday. The fake handle does not belong to her”.
Our investigations, however, put a lie to the claim by Mr. Akanbi that the minister did not say “recession is a word” during her interaction with the media.
While the tweets have since been deleted, we have a video confirming that she indeed, made the comment (watch from 0:53 mark).
Min of Finance @Mrskemiadeosun: 'The diversification agenda is not a rhetoric.' #Economy #Diversification #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/ljI945DxQv
— J. (@Johannxs) August 24, 2016
Also interesting is the sudden change in the bio of the Twitter handle @Mrskemiadeosun from “Official Twitter account of the Honourable Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” to “Parody Twitter account of the Honourable Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” and presently, no bio, in a space of hours, following the controversy.
In spite of the fact that the handle has been tweeting and retweeting quotes by the minister, her colleagues, President Muhammadu Buhari and sharing official pictures from Mrs. Adeosun’s outings, it comes as a strange surprise that no formal rebuttal was issued by the minister all this while to disown the account, as is the norm, until this current controversy.
However, this tweet by the Office of Digital Engagement in the Presidency, may have put to rest this ‘anomaly’.
On 08/03/2016 @MrAshaye asked us about Mrs. Kemi Adeosun's Twitter accounts and this was our response back then.. pic.twitter.com/l38uq3HUiX
— PODE (#weASOcial) (@DigiCommsNG) September 1, 2016
Notwithstanding, it remains to be seen how Mrs. Adeosun will wriggle herself out of this current media storm, especially from social media users, who do not suffer fools gladly.
See where d now parody acct tagged so many NGR official accounts, but no one noticed it was a parody acct right? https://t.co/rGrZfvKlz3
— afrispheric (@afrispheric) September 1, 2016
The Nigerian Senate handle referred to @Mrskemiadeosun as her official twitter account. Lies or incompetence https://t.co/ET26Cm6fVx
— Igala High Chief (@I_Am_Ilemona) September 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/phoenix_agenda/status/771422332174860288
Instead of kemi Adeosun to just apologize for the comment, she choose to lie. Lying liars all of them
— Outdoor man. (@fredricky) September 1, 2016
Up until a few days ago, members of the presidential media team quoted @mrskemiadeosun, the handle she now denies https://t.co/546dzrkpq2
— Igala High Chief (@I_Am_Ilemona) September 1, 2016
Dear President @MBuhari, please show that you have some decency left in you; ask Kemi Adeosun to resign, or fire her for lying to Nigerians.
— Ikhide R. Ikheloa (@ikhide) September 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/Tokwonna/status/771470761563488256
in this video @Mrskemiadeosun said 'recession is a word' shame https://t.co/uPbMzP5njL
— Citizen Watchdog (@Brinel01) September 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/Gomeznsude/status/771472912419258368
All tweets from @Mrskemiadeosun are being deleted as we tweet.
They are keeping vigil until all tweets are gone. Kudos to the parody Madam
— IKECHUKWU (@iykimo) September 1, 2016
That video is a month old and who knows it might even be older than that, and this was when she said we were technically in recession. It is wont make sense for her to come back now and repeat what she said a month ago without been clear on it. There are lots of people who are not on twitter and don’t even know how twitter works but still have a twitter account and we know quite well that there are dubious people out there with the aim of duping people. Let us move on, this woman has been transparent, accountable and empathetic to the plight of the masses, its pointless now to persecute her because some mischievous person wish her no good.