The Presidency has strongly criticised Daily Trust newspaper over a recent report alleging that Lagos State received projects worth ₦3.29 trillion in the last two years, describing the publication as “false,” “divisive,” and “malicious.”
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, issued the scathing rebuke on his verified X handle, accusing the newspaper of deliberately misinforming the public and inflaming regional and religious sentiments under the guise of investigative journalism.
The report by Daily Trust had claimed that Lagos State benefited disproportionately from federal government projects totalling ₦3.29 trillion between 2023 and 2025, a figure that sparked controversy online and offline.
However, Onanuga dismissed the article as “a resurrection of a falsehood,” stating that similar claims had already been thoroughly debunked weeks earlier.
“While Daily Trust demands public trust, going by its name, it consistently and unabashedly distorts facts to serve a parochial agenda,” the presidential aide wrote. “It inflames religious passions with false narratives, as seen in its sensationalist coverage of the Samoa agreement, for which it had to apologise.”
Onanuga further alleged that the newspaper is fixated on portraying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a negative light, often viewing public policies through the narrow prism of region rather than national interest.
“Daily Trust attempts to pit one region against another, especially targeting the President by painting him as favouring his native Lagos,” he added. “Weeks after the baseless issue of alleged lopsided allocation of projects had been debunked, the untrustworthy paper resurrected the falsehood all over again, presenting it as the product of ‘investigative journalism’. But it is far from it.”
According to him, the motive is clear: “Repeat the lie, paint Tinubu black, and make the lie stick. But facts are stubborn. Because they are the truth, they will always triumph over falsehood and the malicious fiction often served by this paper.”
He also called on Nigerians to treat Daily Trust’s content with deep scepticism, saying the newspaper had become a purveyor of deliberate misinformation.
“Nigerians must see this paper for what it is: a source not to be trusted, unworthy of the title it bears — a newspaper that should be consigned to the dustbin when it arrives at the breakfast table,” Onanuga said.
