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EXTRA: Kabir Masari unveils official portrait as Tinubu’s aide

June 18, 2024 4:34 pm

Kabir Masari, the senior special assistant on political matters to President Bola Tinubu, has released a “verified portrait” of his role in the presidency.

On Tuesday, the presidential aide uploaded the portrait, described as “low quality” by an X commenter, to his social media pages.

It is unusual for presidential aides to have “official portrait” — it is usually the president, his deputy and ministers that do.

Also, rather than being head shot, the portrait shows more than half of his body.

He is also looking away from the camera, completely disconnected from those who may view the picture.

The post included his role in the presidency, written in bold characters.

Although Masari, whom Tinubu picked as “placeholder” for his running mate before the 2023 presidential election, has made the portrait his profile picture on Facebook, he has been forced to pull down the post from X, following backlash from other users.

Tinubu appointed Masari as an aide in July 2023. Before that, he was the placeholder for Kashim Shettima, Tinubu’s running mate, in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.

Masari later resigned from the role after Shettima was announced as Tinubu’s substantive running mate.

In May, he unveiled a “verified logo” as a presidential aide in a post on X.

‘LACK OF QUALITY’

The post elicited a mixed reception on Facebook and X.

Afolabi, an X user, quoted the now-deleted post and described it as lacking in quality while making fun of the presidential aide and the photographer who took the shot.