Tinubu aide slams Nasboi over terrorist video — 'stop spreading fear'

A top aide to President Bola Tinubu publicly rebuked social media personality Nasboi on Thursday, demanding he halt what the presidency called a campaign of fear-mongering tied to graphic footage of armed terrorists operating inside Nigeria.

Presidency responds to viral footage

The Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications released a statement targeting Nasboi by name, accusing him of amplifying a video that showed heavily armed individuals identified as bandits moving through rural communities. The aide said sharing such material without context endangered public calm and undermined government efforts to communicate security developments responsibly.

The statement did not specify when the original video was recorded or which region it depicted, but officials indicated the footage had circulated widely across platforms including X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook over the past 72 hours.

Social media as a battleground

The confrontation escalated a pattern that has seen Nigerian officials increasingly clash with online commentators over how security information reaches the public. Critics argue the presidency struggles to control narratives that spread faster through social channels than official press releases ever could.

Nasboi, whose real name is not publicly confirmed, has built a following of several hundred thousand users through commentary on national affairs. His response to the presidential aide's statement was not immediately available, but sources familiar with the matter indicated he had not deleted the original post as of Thursday afternoon.

Government communication under scrutiny

The episode exposes friction between Nigeria's desire to project stability for foreign investors and the reality of unfiltered information sharing that technology enables. Business leaders monitoring West African markets have flagged such incidents as examples of the governance risks that factor into investment decisions.

One Lagos-based economic analyst who tracks investor sentiment said companies weighing entry into Nigeria's $140 billion economy weigh security narratives heavily. When high-profile figures debate terrorist footage publicly, that sends signals beyond the immediate political drama, the analyst told Vanguard News.

Market perception at stake

Security analysts caution that Nigeria faces heightened risk from armed groups across multiple states, including parts of the North-West where kidnapping for ransom has disrupted agricultural supply chains. The government has maintained operations against these groups, spending an estimated 887 billion naira on defense and internal security in the 2024 budget.

Yet the public dispute over how such threats are communicated raises questions about institutional coordination. Investors watching Nigeria's progress on the African Continental Free Trade Area arrangements need confidence that security messaging reflects coordinated strategy rather than reactive politics.

South African portfolio managers with exposure to Nigerian sovereign bonds have cited governance quality as a key determinant in recent allocation reviews. A foreign exchange trader in Johannesburg who handles Sub-Saharan flows said whenever Abuja's communication appears fragmented, rand-denominated funds tend to reprice Nigerian exposure cautiously.

What happens next

The presidency's statement called on media practitioners and influencers to exercise restraint. It stopped short of announcing any regulatory action, though officials have previously floated potential amendments to Nigeria's framework for online content that could affect how security footage is shared.

Nasboi's response will likely determine whether this remains a passing controversy or deepens into a prolonged confrontation that further tests how Nigeria's government manages its public communication in the digital age. That outcome matters for more than politics — it shapes how the world sees Nigeria's ability to govern its information environment, a factor that increasingly drives capital flows across the continent.