Nigerians fault presidency’s explanation on Osinbajo’s Twitter account

Some Nigerians have faulted the explanation offered by the media aide to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on why his profile picture, header image and over 2,399 tweets were deleted from Osinbajo’s account.

It was discovered that over 2,399 tweets were deleted from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s account amid its unverified status. The suspension and deletion of tweets took place between Friday night August 9th and Saturday morning August 10th.

Yemi Osinbajo’s profile picture and header image were also deleted.

In a statement issued by the Vice President’s media aide, Laolu Akande, he blamed it all on attempts by hackers to gain unauthorised access to the Twitter account.

The statement reads: “Yesterday (On Friday), there were failed external attempts to gain unauthorized access to the Vice President’s Twitter Account. Since, we have been in contact with Twitter, securing the account, and forestalling a reoccurrence. The VP will continue to actively communicate with our citizens.”

However, the explanation didn’t go down well with some Nigerians who believe the truth behind the suspension has not been revealed.

Nigerian media marketing consultant Segun Awosanya popularly known as Segalink said: “Unfortunately, that is not how this works. Try again. Verification badge being removed because an attempt was made on your account? Haba. Did you make an attempt on your own account? Why would you be punished for that? Clearly, this defense wasn’t thought through.”

A commentator wrote: “Fake news. We didn’t expect you to come clean and say it was suspended cos he advertised his Tradermoni resumption in Bayelsa on Twitter.”

Another wrote: “Dear Mr. Akande, I do not think that a “failed external attempts to gain unauthorized access to the Vice President’s Twitter Account,” can lead to Twitter removing its verification badge on the VP’s handle.”