Buhari’s media aides goof again, hail him as “first African president to visit Trump”
President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aides have again been left embarrassed after being a little too excited about his scheduled visit to the United States.
Buhari will fly out to the United States on Saturday on a working visit to the country, where he is expected to meet with Donald Trump to discuss issues bordering on Nigeria’s economic growth and security.
The president’s media aides who couldn’t hold the excitement rushed to Twitter to erroneously claim that he would be the first democratically elected African president to meet with Trump at the Oval Office.
Bashir Ahmad, one of Buhari’s aides, confidently said on Twitter: “Nigeria’s President MBuhari will on April 30 hold the distinction of becoming the first African president to meet US President Trump at the White House in Washington.”
While it was bad enough that the president’s aides see the meeting with Trump as a trumpet-worthy achievement, it was worse that Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the current president of Egypt, had taken that honour in April 2017.
Nigerians have quickly pointed out the error, while expressing dismay that the meeting was considered a milestone for Buhari.
See some reactions:
Egyptian President @AlsisiOfficial was the first African President to met with US President Trump, at the White house. Was Egypt not part of Africa?
— Usman A. Uba (@usmanaliyuuba) April 27, 2018
When has Buhari meeting Trump become an achievement or milestone?
President Buhari has lowered the bar of governance so low that ordinary things are considered milestones
— Chukwuemeka Nnadozie (@ChNnadozie) April 27, 2018
No boo,
President Trump met with Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in April 2017, Al-Sisi is the current president of Egypt, Egypt is a transcontinental country in N/E Africa.Now take this post to 2go, it is irrelevant to the challenges facing us as a country https://t.co/bHY6qFCoOv
— YOUR DADDY’s MAIN CHIC (@Babypeng_) April 27, 2018
President Sisi of Egypt was there to meet Trump. Any other lie? pic.twitter.com/Z75eWHHflt
— Apostle David Odi (@ApostleDavidOdi) April 27, 2018
If you must misinform Nigerians at least do it intelligently. Google is free Bashir pic.twitter.com/3mb2ulZwWi
— Omadi (@iamtenseven) April 27, 2018
Another tweet that shows how low our leaders are and how mediocrity reigns supreme in Nigeria. The audacity to tweet this as “distinction” is sad really SAD!! ?
— Obaro Joseph (@barovyy) April 27, 2018
When illiterates handle the affairs of the most populous country in Africa,the end result is always a disaster.
— THE TRUTH ONLY (@FACT_UNDISPUTED) April 27, 2018
Since Nigerians pointed out the error, Ahmad has not deemed it fit to correct the statement, seemingly confident he made no mistake.
It was not the first time the president’s media aides would be caught in the middle of very avoidable gaffes.
