The Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the growing cases of hate speech,
disinformation and fake news in the country are being orchestrated by
naysayers and their sponsors.
The Minister made the statement
at the Extra-ordinary Meeting of the National Council on Information (NCI),
which has the theme ‘’Hate Speeches, Disinformation, Fake News and National
Unity”, in Jos, Plateau State.
”The campaign (to discredit the government) is a multi-million naira project and the people behind this string of hate speech, disinformation and fake news are not about to stop. In fact, they will become more vicious in the days, weeks and months ahead,” he said.
”The campaign (to discredit the government) is a multi-million naira project and the people behind this string of hate speech, disinformation and fake news are not about to stop. In fact, they will become more vicious in the days, weeks and months ahead,” he said.
Mohammed blamed the resurgent
push for separatism, as well as
the rising cases of ethnic and religious disharmony on the ”growing phenomenon of hate speech, as well as the disinformation and fake news campaign”, and warned that hate speeches and incitement to violence set the stage for the genocide that left at least 800,000 people dead in Rwanda in 1994.
the rising cases of ethnic and religious disharmony on the ”growing phenomenon of hate speech, as well as the disinformation and fake news campaign”, and warned that hate speeches and incitement to violence set the stage for the genocide that left at least 800,000 people dead in Rwanda in 1994.
He traced the worsening cases of
hate speech in the country to the period leading to the last general
elections, when the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, was the target of a vicious campaign.
”Never in the history of
electioneering campaign in Nigeria has such a quantum of hate speech been
directed at any candidate. This did not stop even when he won the election
and became President.
“For instance, the President
had hardly left Nigeria for his vacation in London on 19 January 2017, during
which he said he would have routine medical check-up, when these hate and
fake news campaigners circulated the news that he has died. Between then and
now, they have repeated similar fakes news times without number,” the
Minister said.
He cited three instances of
disinformation and fake news targeted at him, including when he was quoted as
saying the government does not know who will sign the 2017 budget, when what
he said was that when the budget is transmitted to the presidency, a decision
will be taken.
Mohammed recalled: ”On
Wednesday, 26 April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at the
meeting.
Buhari did not preside over the
day’s meeting because he decided to work from home that day. In reporting my
briefing, one of the correspondents quoted me as saying the President would
work from home henceforth, rather than on that day only.
”Also in May 2017, I travelled to
China on official assignment. I had just arrived in that country, after a
long flight, when I started receiving calls from Nigeria, seeking my reaction
to a story making the rounds in the Social Media, quoting me as saying that
though President Muhammadu Buhari is in a London hospital, he is using
Made-in-Nigeria drugs. I purportedly made the comment in an interview with
Channels Television, after the Federal Government’s launch of the Made-in-Nigeria campaign in Abuja a few days earlier.
”At first, I chose to ignore the
story, saying Nigerians would easily see the folly of it. But the phone calls
from Nigeria became more frequent and more intense, to such an extent that
they could no longer be ignored. I had to put a call through to Mr. John
Momoh, and Channels Television promptly issued a rebuttal, saying it neither
interviewed me nor carried any such story.”
On the way forward, he said
”Nigerians must say NO to hate speech and boycott any medium that is used
to spew hate or that engages in disinformation and fake news”, adding that
if left unchecked, the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake
news is capable of undermining national unity and pushing the nation to the
precipice.
The Minister also told the
delegates to the meeting, which included government information managers from
all the states of the federation, that every state must emulate what the
Federal Government has done, through acting President Yemi Osinbajo, who held
a series of engagements with key stakeholders to calm frayed nerves in the
aftermath of the quit notice recently issued to section of the country
by northern youths.
by northern youths.
”We must be resolute in tackling
the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. We as
government information managers must embark on a relentless campaign against
these evil tendencies at our various levels, whether federal or state,” he
said, adding that the regulators must also be alive to their responsibility
by sanctioning erring media outlets.
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Threatened by you. You started it, so end it....lies,misinformation, not getting your act together
ReplyDeleteNonsense comment from a fool @nonymous 12:17PM
DeleteI'm not going to indulge you. Only bigger fools like you use insults as response, instead of making useful contributions. It's either you agree or disagree with me cogent reasons. Not to resort to insult as your weapon. It shows how weak you are
ReplyDeletewhat ever a man sows he reaps why complain now
ReplyDelete