NASDAQ Bell: Presidency apologises for misinforming Nigerians

 

President Bola Tinubu’s spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, has come under severe criticism over a misinformation that his boss was the first African leader to have rang the closing bell of the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ).

The United States Chamber of Commerce had on September 20, given Tinubu the honour of ringing the closing bell of the NASDAQ exchange market in New York.

Tinubu’s spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, immediately issued a boastful statement that his boss was the “first African president to ever receive the honour.”

He had said in a statement: “In honour of President Bola Tinubu’s determined global push to aggressively attract foreign direct investment into Nigeria, the world’s second-largest stock exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ), on Wednesday in the world’s financial capital, invited President Tinubu to ring the closing bell, making him the first African President to ever receive the honour.”

Not long after making the claim, fact-checkers went to work and found that Jakaya Kiwete, former president of Tanzania, rang the NASDAQ closing bell in 2011.

The presidency, in what appears a damage control to a major gaffe, issued an unsigned statement apologising for what they described as an error.

According to the statement, the information was provided by a third-party event organiser.

“We inadvertently referred to President Bola Tinubu as the first African leader to ring the bell at NASDAQ on Wednesday in New York, based on the information provided by a third-party event organiser,” the statement reads.

“We have since found out that this information was/is incorrect as a former African leader has indeed had the privilege.

“This error is sincerely regretted.”

This is not the first misinformation coming from the presidency since Tinubu became president on May 29.
On September 11, Ngelale claimed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had lifted its visa ban imposed on Nigerian travellers after Tinubu met president of the country. The UAE later debunked the information via a statement by an unnamed official to the CNN.