Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, has hinted that his new position would not chart the course of others before him.
According to him, his advisory role in the president’s team will be more than just defending the government.
Ogunlesi, who was speaking on Monday, February 22, at the Social Media Week currently going on in Lagos, was quoted by the organizers as saying, “I’m going to disappoint people that think the work of a PA is to trend hashtags and defend the government.”
Ogunlesi’s appointment was announced on Thursday last week amidst mixed reactions.
Some applauded 
it as well-deserved and others adjudging it as yet another violation of the pre-election promise of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to reduce the number of political appointees.
His appointment brought the total of the President’s media aides to 4.
However, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, insisted that the current administration has cut down the number of ministers from 42 to 36, and ministries from 29 to 19.
“The latest appointment of Tolu Ogunlesi, what are we talking about?” he questioned reporters on Sunday.
“The fact is that the new media has come to stay and you must get a grip of it. Today’s social media is almost setting the agenda for government in a way the traditional media is not doing, so it will be unwise for a government not to recognise that.”
— The Brief
