NIGERIA’s presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, has claimed that Julius Debrah was the Chief of Staff to the immediate-past president of Ghana.
Onanuga posted the claim on X (formerly Twitter) to announce the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s arrival at the inauguration ceremony held for the newly elected Ghanaian president on January 7, 2025.
In the X post, he claimed that Tinubu was received by Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff to the outgoing president, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo.
The post which contains two photos and credited to the State House show Tinubu and Debrah. Its caption stated thus:
“President Tinubu in Ghana
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (right) arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana, on Monday to attend the inauguration of President-elect John Dramani Mahama on January 7. Julius Debra, Chief of Staff to the outgoing Ghanaian President, received President Tinubu at the airport. PHOTO BY STATEHOUSE”
The post has garnered over 30,000 views, with over 100 reposts and more than 500 likes as of January 25, 2025.
Bayo Onanuga is the special adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy and he currently oversees the State House press releases.
CLAIM
Julius Debrah is the Chief of Staff of the immediate-past president of Ghana.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as Debrah is the current Chief of Staff to Ghanaian president, John Mahama, who was sworn-in this January.
President Tinubu alongside leaders from other African countries graced the inauguration ceremony of John Mahama after he was re-elected as the president of Ghana for the second term.
Recall that Mahama was first elected as Ghanaian president in 2012, after he had previously served as vice-president from 2009 – 2012 to ex-President John Atta Mills who later passed away in July 2012. Mahama was initially Ghanaian president from 2012 till 2017 when he lost the election to Nana Addo Akufo-Addo.
To verify the claim, our fact-checker subjected the keyword “chief of staff to president Nana Addo Akufo” to advanced Bing search. The results show that Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare was the Chief of Staff to ex-president Akufo-Addo who served from 2017- 2025.
Further findings revealed that Julius Debrah was the Chief of Staff to the President Mahama during his first tenure after he was appointed in February 2015 when Prosper Douglas Bani was removed and assigned as Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary.
Debrah was later re-appointed as Mahama’s Chief of Staff on January 6, 2025 and he received President Tinubu in that official capacity when the Nigerian president arrived Ghana same ahead of the inauguration.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Julius Debrah is the Chief of Staff to Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, the immediate-past president of Ghana is MISLEADING; Debrah is the Chief of Staff to the current Ghanaian president, John Mahama.