Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola, released a press statement yesterday - see link below - which left no one in doubt that he was not impressed with Mrs Jonathan forcefully shutting down traffic during her visit to Lagos.

He claimes:

- Mrs Jonathan's action was unreasonable
- He was not given reasonable notice of the visit
- Mrs Jonathan was an unelected 'freeloader' - word in parenthesis is mine
- All VIP Security should be conducted in a way that shows concern for local residents.

The overwhelming majority of commentators and Lagosians seem to side with the Governor.

My questions are:

- Who the hell is handling Public Relations at the Presidency - the person/s need to be fired in the face of ACN's constant PR successes against the Presidency.
- Why does the Presidency keep falling into ACN's clever PR traps
- How long can Jonathan's 'credibility' take the constant heavyweight jabs/uppercut that ACN seem to land so easily these days
- Is ACN now the most effective opposition party since Awolowo's UPN of 1979 - 83
- Whose fault is it that the Presidency is rarely in control of public debate - it always seem to be on the defensive, reacting rather than leading

GEJ must be very frustrated at the relentless drubbing he gets from ACN. What does he need to do to 'fight back' in this PR war.

I think Mrs Jonathan did the wrong thing by shutting down traffic... :obut i dont blame her, or do you want BOKO PEOPLE to kidnap her...

I understand where you're coming from but most people will not buy the Boko Haram excuse. Locking down vast expanse of a city's central area for 5hrs is surely excessive.

Also, past Presidents and their wives have behaved in similar manner long before anyone heard of Boko Haram. So, it's in their nature, nothing to do with the terrorists.

What is unfortunate for Team GEJ is that this time around ACN sense a widespread disenchantment with the Presidency, and they are riding on the back of that disenchantment (as any credible opposition should do) to hit Jonathan again.

My point is, Abati, and his team, should have worked closely with Mrs Jonathan's office to ensure that this visit to the heartland of the country's main opposition did not offend the 'natives' (lagosians) in any way. It should have been an exercise in positive PR rather than handling the visit as business as usual. Now, rather than reporting Mrs Jonathan's visit for what it is, all the newspapers are only interesting in reporting the traffic issue and Mr Fashola's response.

Another victory for ACN. Team GEJ could have been avoided this in my view.