FG Accuses Foreign Consultants of Masterminding Spread of Fake News

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday fingered foreign consultants allegedly working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the masterminds of fake news and hate speeches in the country.

He made the allegation yesterday at the 47th meeting of the National Council on Information in Kaduna.

Commissioners for Information from across the country and other stakeholders, including the Director General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria ( FRCN), Mansur Liman, and the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Nnamdi Njemanze, attended the meeting with the theme: ‘Tackling Fake News and Hate Speech to Enhance Peace and National Unity’.

The minister alleged the hired consultants were of recent churning out fake news to mislead the gullible Nigerian public.

He listed some of the false narratives to include allegations that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had frozen the account of PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and had also arrested his son for money laundering.

Mohammed scorned the opposition for being unable to engage the federal government on any issue-based engagement without resorting to fake news and hate speeches.

While admonishing that if unchecked, fake reports and hate speeches could truncate the forthcoming general election in 2019, the minister insisted that government had no intention to resort to coercion or censorship of the perpetrators as the Nigerian constitution guaranteed freedom of speech, but not freedom of hate speech.

"They (opposition) can't debate at all tiers of government on issue-based engagement. I challenge them to debate with us on agriculture, economy and fighting of corruption. They will not do that but engage in fake news and hate speeches. This issue transcends political party lines, religion, ethnicity and even nationality. Left unchecked, it constitutes the biggest threat to the forthcoming elections. It has the capacity to alter the course of an election and trigger legitimacy problem for the winner," Mohammed warned.

He urged the commissioners who attended the council meeting to launch the campaign in their various states.

Earlier in his welcome address, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, represented by his Special Adviser on Information, Muyiwa Adekeye, said fake news and hate speech must be regulated as they constitute serious threats to democracy and national security.

"As much as we cherish freedom of speech, we should caution people that freedom of speech is not a licence to abuse it. For creators of fake news, the only answer to them is vigorous enforcement of the legal provisions," El-Rufai said.

In a goodwill message, Njemaze cautioned against spreading of fake news and hate speech in the media in the build to the elections, as political interests will be competing to tell wrong news against one another.