The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, has urged Nigerians to disregard the “fake news” being circulated via
a parody twitter account and an old NTA news video that President Muhammadu
Buhari is travelling on Monday or has travelled to the United State.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos, the
Minister said one of the numerous parody twitter accounts in his name,
@MohammedLai, was used “to disseminate the fake and ludicrous news that claims
that President
Buhari is due to leave Nigeria for the US on Monday
to condole with President Donald Trump over the floods in Houston.”
Also, he said an old NTA news video being circulated
on the social media claims that President Buhari has already left for the United
Nation General Assembly in New York.
''This is a 2015 NTA news video that was repackaged
to look current, and give the impression that the president left Daura, where
he is celebrating Eid-el-Kabir, for New York,'' Mohammed said.
He urged Nigerians to disregard any news credited
to any account in his name either on twitter or facebook, adding: “Numerous
parody accounts have been opened in my name on the two platforms when indeed I
have no twitter or facebook account.''
The minister recalled how the same parody twitter
account used to disseminate the fake news about the president's purported trip
was employed to circulate a fake report that he sharply criticised Senator Dino
Melaye for attending the Notting Hill carnival in the United Kingdom.
He said these two instances highlighted the dangers
posed to the polity by the purveyors of fake news and disinformation, and vowed
that the
federal government would soon fish out those behind
the shenanigans.
''Fake news, disinformation and hate speech are the
antics of the naysayers and those who are pathologically opposed to this administration.
That is why we are urging Nigerians to be more discerning, and to double check
any information emanating from the
social media,'' the minister said.
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