President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has kicked out his controversial social media point man, Reno Omokri and has replaced him with Obi Asika who takes over as the new senior special assistant on social media.
According to SaharaReporters, Mr. Jonathan move is seen as an apparent maneuver to re-energize his social media image following a growing slide in his electoral fortunes, as well as a series of scandals involving Reno. Until now, Reno Omokri ran the office, heading the President’s campaign social media team.
A source at the Presidency revealed that Mr. Omokri, who returned from California to boost President Jonathan’s political campaigns in 2011, had become a huge liability and source of distraction. Mr. Omokri, who also doubles as a pastor, came to be known as “Wendell Simlin” after tech-savvy Nigerian social media activists caught him red-handed as he circulated reports on the Internet that claimed to have found a link between former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and Islamist terror group Boko Haram. The claims were discovered to be fraudulent and false.
Last week, Mr. Omokri was accused of leading policemen to burglarize a house in Warri, Delta State that belonged to his late mother. The occupants of the house, including Alex Oyoro, a well known PDP political figure in Delta State, alleged that Mr. Omokri had led a group of thugs and mobile police officers who broke into the property and stole N25 million in cash. The money, according to Mr. Oyoro, was meant for Mr. Jonathan’s re-election campaign.
Mr. Omokri denied being physically present at the scene of the burglary, claiming he was at his desk in Abuja and also doing some pastoral work at the time of the reported burglary.