A presidential media aide, Dada Olusegun, on Sunday said circulating a statement defending embattled Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, hours before its official release by the commission is part of his role as a propagator of the government’s good works.

Mr Olusegun, a member of the presidential media team, sparked public reactions, after posting a statement denying allegations that the INEC chairman supported Mr Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress during the 2023 general elections prior to his appointment. 

While Mr Olusegun circulated the statement on X at 8:12 pm on April 10, the INEC (re)posted the same statement at 6:16 pm on April 11, hours behind that of the presidential aide, thereby eliciting questions from Nigerians.

Reacting to public reactions criticising his quick circulation of a statement by an independent commission defending its chairman, Mr Amupitan, against allegation of partisanship, Mr Olusegun in a post on X on Sunday, said “It is important to separate coincidence in messaging from conspiracy.”

He stated, “Public institutions routinely respond to issues that have already generated widespread public attention. Suggesting that a presidential aide wrote or influenced INEC’s statement is not only baseless, but also unfair.”

Explaining why he published a statement  behalf of the INEC, Mr Olusegun said he did that based on his role as a propagator of good works of government.

He also said he didn’t not author the statement. 

Mr Olusegun stated, “My role remains what it has always been: to communicate, clarify, and propagate the good works of the President Tinubu’s administration alongside the Federal Government responsibly. I have no authority over INEC’s internal processes, and I did not draft any release on its behalf.”

However, a commenter on X with the username @tx4tax dismissed Mr Olusegun’s denial of not authoring the INEC statement, saying “There’s nothing you can say to cover what we all saw. You posted the same write-up hours before INEC, which sends a strong message that you’re working together. Should we assume INEC copied you? Bros, you lies stink.  INEC chairman  should RESIGN.  Simple!”

Another X user, @slkie said, “You posted INEC press statement a full 24 hours before the official INEC handle posted the same thing. In your bid to satisfy your paymasters, you inadvertently exposed the link between yourself and INEC. It is clear INEC takes orders from those who have compromised our institutions and you’re the middle man. You leave so much shit, your incompetence is beginning to stink.”

Also, another X user, @EdwardOche64774, said, “I doubt you really know your job, otherwise you won’t put forth your statement to defend INEC chairman but it all happens to further expose the conspiracy theories of the APC. What you are doing now is simple damage control, but the revelation is done already, (the) coming days will tell.”