The Presidency has denied inviting British supermodel, Naomi Campbell, to Nigeria for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos.
This followed the storm that followed photographs of the two during a tour of the Eko Atlantic City on Friday.
The 47-year-old catwalk queen had earlier tweeted: “Was a pleasure to be invited by His Excellency The President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to the private launch of Eko Atlantic.”
That statement was met by criticism from a cross-section of Nigerians who queried the supposed presidential invitation.
Two presidential aides, Lauretta Onochie and Bashir Ahmad, then stepped in, claiming that President Buhari and Ms Campbell only met during a tour of the project and she requested to take photographs with him.
President Buhari tours Eko Atlantic City. Top Model Naomi Campbell was there too and took photo ops with @NGRPresident @MBuhari who is on his 2nd day working visit to Lagos state pic.twitter.com/DxxDoVGmyr
— Lauretta Onochie (@Laurestar) March 30, 2018
For the sake of clarity, President @MBuhari didn’t invite Ms. Naomi Campbell to any event during his 2-day visit to Lagos State. They only met at the Eko Atlantic City while Mr. President was touring the project, and she requested to take photos with him.
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) March 30, 2018
The supermodel, thereafter, deleted her earlier tweet and put up a modified one, writing that she is in Nigeria for the ARISE Fashion week.
Was a pleasure to meet His Excellency The President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to the launch of Eko Atlantic. HERE FOR ARISE FASHION WEEK 💃🏾🇳🇬🖤💚🦅 pic.twitter.com/Wme3BRGvp3
— Naomi Campbell (@NaomiCampbell) March 30, 2018
Organisers of the fashion event also said in a story published by ThisDay online that Campbell was at the Eko Atlantic City “to show her support for the Lagos environmental protection and reclamation project, which the new city is being built to achieve.”
The story added that she “had a chance meeting with Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.”
