The Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has attributed the escalation of
the recent crisis in the National Assembly (NASS) to the circulation of fake
news, especially in the social media, reports ITREALMS.
The Minister stated
this in Abuja when he paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Blueprint
Newspapers, in furtherance of the Federal Government's campaign against fake
news, which was launched 11 July 2018.
“When we launched the
campaign, we did not envisage the kind of event that occurred at the National
Assembly last week, specifically Aug. 7
- Less than one month
after the launch. That event, during which the National Assembly was
barricaded, is a classic example of how fake news can aggravate conflicts. In
fact, it was driven all the way by fake news
''A serving Senator
led the fake news onslaught, claiming that only APC members were being allowed
into the chambers as a ploy to impeach the Senate President while PDP members
were barred - FAKE NEWS! No APC members was in the chambers at the time!'' he
said.
Alhaji Mohammed said
but for the timely intervention of the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
the situation could have deteriorated and brought great opprobrium on the
country.
He said that in the
aftermath of the crisis, news that 21 billion Naira and assorted weapons have
been found in the residence of the sacked Director-General of the DSS also
turned out to be fake.
The Minister said fake
news remains a clear and present danger to the nation’s unity and democracy,
and indeed to the very survival of the country, adding that it cannot and must
not be treated with levity.
He admonished
Nigerians to always check the source of any news item before sharing it,
saying"Don't share whatever you can't vouch for.”
Alhaji Mohammed
stressed the need for the media to take the lead in the campaign against the
phenomenon of fake news which, he said, has the capacity to erode the
credibility of the media.
He said the visit to
the corporate headquarters of the Blueprint was to enlist the newspaper's
support for the campaign against fake news as well as to thank the news medium
for not allowing its platform to be used to spread fake news.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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