Vunderkind
Social Member
It looks like things are getting dirtier by the minute as President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, Reno Omokri, has gotten himself implicated in a scandal. Premium Times newspaper reports that Reno Omokri’s digital signature has been revealed to be connected with a ‘slanderous write-up’ against the recently suspended Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido.
Premium Times reports that “Mr. Omokri, Special Assistant to the President on New Media, is believed to have used a pseudonym, Wendell Simlin, to circulate an article that tried to link the recent spike in Boko Haram attack to the suspension of the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi.”
The newspaper notes that “Mr. Omokri has the reputation of being [the] government’s online marksman.”
The article attempted to make up a historical chassis upon which to link the suspended CBN governor with the Boko Haram attacks. A part of the document read: “Given the quantum of funds that were appropriated by the Sanusi-led CBN on non banking related activities and donations, and the strong desire that he and Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab have for proselytizing Islam as well as their circumstantial links to terror (Sanusi via Gideon Akaluka and Mutallab via his son) it is not such a leap for them to facilitate the activities of terrorists.”
This article was circulated yesterday to bloggers and journalists in the country using a third party email address, [email protected]. However, the document’s metadata revealed that it was indeed Reno Omokri who authored the document.
Premium Times Newspaper confirms that the digital signature of the document has a 100% resemblance to documents it had received in the past from the selfsame Mr. Omokri.
The newspaper says, “The document was created by Mr. Omokri or someone else who used his Hewlett Packard computer at 10:01 on Wednesday. Sixteen minutes after it was created, the document was printed and revised once before it was sent out at 11:54 using the Wendell Simlin’s email address.
The email was sent out using the Nigerian government’s official internet service provider, Galaxy Backbone, from Abuja, Feyi Fawehimi who first investigated the mail told PREMIUM TIMES.”
This revelation has led to an online uproar from the social media section of Nigerians, as many are calling for the sack of Mr. Reno Omokri.
Mr. Omokri, who fancies himself a pastor and often posts gospel tips on twitter, has come under heavy criticism for failing morally and being a criminal by trying to pin the Boko Haram killings on Sanusi.
“Some of us who know him know he establishes spurious online accounts to malign opposition,” Tolu Ogunlesi, a journalist, said.
“It is something we know he does,” another blogger said.
Meanwhile, this slip-up by Reno Omokri brings forth greater fears: critics are beginning to fear that the President Jonathan-led administration isn’t interested in ending the Boko Haram threat anytime soon, but will in fact, milk it for what it is worth, for its own political gain.
Mr. Fawehimi said, “rather than solving the Boko Haram problem, he is using it for political gains. It is quite low and depressing.”
Meanwhile, Aso Rock spokespersons Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe have fallen silent on the accusations, and Mr. Omokri has yet to respond as well.
