Wendell Simlin: President Jonathan’s Media Aide, Reno Omokri under fire for fake document linking Sanusi to Boko Haram

There are indications that the name Wendell Simlin, which was used as the origin of the leaked document which says, that the rise in insurgent activities of Boko Haram was due to the suspension of CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is actually a fake name, that the brain behind that parody account is Reno Omokri, the Special Assistant on Social Media to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Omokri, Special Assistant to the President on New Media, is believed to have used a pseudonym, Wendell Simlin, to circulate an article that tried to link the recent spike in Boko Haram attack to the suspension of the CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi.

The article tried to use a purported historical framework to draw contextual relationship between the suspended CBN governor and Boko Haram attacks.

“Given the quantum of funds that were appropriated by the Sanusi-led CBN on non banking related activities and donations, and the strong desire that he and Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab have for proselytizing Islam as well as their circumstantial links to terror (Sanusi via Gideon Akaluka and Mutallab via his son) it is not such a leap for them to facilitate the activities of terrorists,” the article read in part.

The article was circulated to bloggers and journalists on Wednesday with the third party email address, wendellsimlin@yahoo.com, but an analysis of the document’s metadata revealed that Reno Omokri authored it.

The document’s digital signature shared a 100 percent resemblance with that of others received from Mr. Omokri in the past.

The document was created by Mr. Omokri or someone else who used his Hewlett Packard computer at 10:01 on Wednesday. Sixteen minutes after it was created, the document was printed and revised once before it was sent out at 11:54 using the Wendell Simlin’s email address.

The email was sent out using the Nigerian government’s official internet service provider, Galaxy Backbone, from Abuja, Feyi Fawehimi who first investigated the mail claims.

Mr. Omokri who claims to be a pastor, often posting gospel tips on twitter, is criticized for failing morally and acting criminally by trying to blame Mr. Sanusi for terrorist killing less than 48 hours after members of the Boko Haram sect murdered young students in their hostels.

Mr. Omokri has the reputation of being government’s online marksman. He is believed to be President Jonathan’s coordinator of internet trolls and leads the government’s social media onslaught on opposition parties and critics of the administration.