Popular columnist and social media personality, Tolu Ogunlesi has denied writing the now-popular The Economist article in which former President Goodluck Jonathan was described as an “ineffectual buffoon” for allegedly allowing his cronies corruptly enrich themselves under his administration.
The Economist has an anonymous policy, which means that a writer’s name is not attached to their articles.
But an online medium identified Ogunlesi as the writer, basing its claim on the argument that the style used in the contentious article was similar to the one usually deployed by Ogunlesi in his numerous articles.
However, Ogunlesi took to his verified Twitter handle on Saturday morning to categorically deny writing the article.
He said he would not hide under anonymity to hurl insults at people and would be demanding a retraction from the online medium that erroneously identified him as the writer.
Read his tweets below…
I'm surprised and amused by the allegations that I wrote or contributed to the Economist 'ineffectual buffoon' piece. I did not. 1/5
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) January 30, 2016
While flattered to be associated with the Economist, whose literary style I immensely admire, I cannot claim ANY credit for that piece 2/5
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) January 30, 2016
I am not and have never been one to be anonymous when making journalistic comments about people. I do not hide behind anonymity 3/5
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) January 30, 2016
I will be sending a letter to the online publication that fabricated the allegation, asking for a retraction and a public apology 4/5
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) January 30, 2016
Moral of the Story: beware of rumours that cause those who fall for them to tweet like ineffectual buffoons. 5/5
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) January 30, 2016