Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has called on Nigerians to disregard reports that President Muhammadu Buhari is travelling to the United States of America to condole with President Donald Trump over the floods in Houston.
The reports, the minister said, originated from a parody Twitter account and an old NTA news video.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday, Mohammed said one of the numerous parody Twitter accounts in his name, @MohammedLai, was used to disseminate the fake news that claims that President Buhari is due to leave Nigeria for the USA on Monday.
Also, he said, an old NTA News video being circulated on social media claims that President Buhari has already left for the UN General Assembly in New York.
“This is a 2015 NTA News video that was repackaged to look current, and to give the impression that the President left Daura, where he is celebrating Eid-el-Kabir, directly for New York,” Mohammed said.
He said Nigerians should 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 accounts.”
He 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 UK.
He said these two instances highlight 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 accounts.
“Fake news, disinformation and hate speech are the antics of the naysayers, 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,” Mohammed concluded.
