Time’s reporter under fire over feature naming Tinubu among 2023 most influential people

Time Magazine’s reporter, Astha Rajvanshi, has come under intense criticism from Nigerians for writing the citation of president-elect of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 issue of the magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Tinubu was listed in the category of influential “leaders” alongside US President, Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.

In the report, Rajvanshi described Tinubu as a “longtime political power broker”, who has had nearly two decades to prepare for the presidential election.

She said the former governor of Lagos is “aware of his inheritance” in the form of a “litany of crises in a fractured nation, including deep-rooted corruption, religious insurgencies, and shortages of cash, fuel, and power in a crumbling economy”.

Following the release of the magazine’s issue on Thursday, several Nigerians, several supporters of Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi known as Obidients, subjected the journalist to intense criticism.

ADVERTISEMENT

With deluge of vitriol on her timeline, Rajvanshi resorted to locking her account on Twitter but the battering continued on her Facebook and Instagram pages.

Rajvanshi was accused of laundering the image of Tinubu, while some others called her “the promoter of a man that rendered families hopeless due to heroin trafficking”.

See some of the reactions on Twitter