‘Error deeply regretted,’ Presidency retracts statement on Tinubu being first African president to ring NASDAQ bell

The presidency has retracted its previous claim that President Bola Tinubu was the first African leader to ring the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) bell.

On September 11, the president was invited by the United States Chamber of Commerce to ring the closing bell at the stock exchange market, based in New York.

Shortly after performing the act on Tuesday, a statement released by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, labelled Tinubu as the “first African president to ever receive the honour”.

“In honour of President Bola Tinubu’s determined global push to aggressively attract foreign direct investment into Nigeria, the world’s second-largest stock exchange, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System (NASDAQ), on Wednesday in the world’s financial capital, invited President Tinubu to ring the closing bell, making him the first African President to ever receive the honour,” Ngelale had said.

However, contrary to the presidential spokesperson’s claim, Jakaya Kiwete, former president of Tanzania, rang the NASDAQ closing bell in 2011.

In a statement on Friday, the presidency said the error was “deeply regretted”.

According to the statement, the information was provided by a third-party event organiser.

“We inadvertently referred to President Bola Tinubu as the first African leader to ring the bell at NASDAQ on Wednesday in New York, based on the information provided by a third-party event organiser,” the statement reads.

“We have since found out that this information was/is incorrect as a former African leader has indeed had the privilege.

“This error is sincerely regretted.”