Two days after the arrest of Bashir Hadejia, Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle’s ally and former aide, over suspected links to terrorism financing, social media influencers have been helping to burnish the minister’s image online.
Matawalle was the immediate-past governor of Zamfara State, a gold-rich state facing lingering banditry. During his tenure, Hadejia was his adviser on special assignments.
On August 24, 2020, the pair went to the State House to present gold bars mined in Zamfara to former president Muhammdu Buhari.
On August 12, the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) arrested Hadejia over claims bordering on “treason and subversion against the state,” according to PUNCH.
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Since the arrest, Matawalle has remained mute.
What quickly surfaced, however, was an adulatory article written by Gabriel Okino and published by at least nine national dailies, including this, this, this and others, between August 14 and 17.
Until this article, Okino, who claims to be a PhD holder, had no traceable digital footprints. FIJ found no evidence of his presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and X (previously Twitter).
L-R: Bashir Hadejia, Bello Matawalle and ex-President Muhammadu Buhari
Neither the article, titled “Matawalle: The Poster Boy of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, nor any of Matawalle’s handlers has publicly addressed any of the claims made against him in connection to Hadejia.
The article only attempted to brush off the claims as if they did not exist, saying “they dwelled in the realm of speculation and not reality”.
“There may be questions about his position on the happenings in his home state. These questions with the benefit of hindsight are geared towards political persecution. They do not in any way reflect the reality on the ground.
“Some of them do not add up logically. And they remain a figment of the imagination of the perpetrators. It is called the danger of the single narrative and why Nigerians should be circumspect by not taking things for reality from a single narrative,” the author wrote.
Alleged Criminal Activities and Arrest of Bashir HadejiaBy: Zagazola MakamaSocial media is replete with this disturbing trend, a report about a figure who allegedly is the sponsor of sponsors; a criminal and several accomplices that need to be put behind bars. Reports… pic.twitter.com/ndMfzbW2AL— Zagazola (@ZagazOlaMakama) August 15, 2024
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Several social media influencers and accounts more aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC) continue to circulate this article on X and other networking sites with curious speed.
Matawalle: The Poster Boy Of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agendahttps://t.co/G6mWAcRKaq— Apro (@apro_dawildcat) August 24, 2024
Before Hadejia’s arrest and his ties to Matawalle were called into question, Bello Turji, a terrorist, had accused the minister of sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria’s northwest.
Even after the minister’s handlers dismissed the accusation, the terrorist stood by his claims.
The Federal Government is yet to announce an investigation into the purported connections between the minister and enablers of insecurity.
The post Matawalle’s Adviser Arrested, Terrorist Leader Said Minister Funded Them. But Influencers Chose to Promote Him appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.