The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has denied the news that President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to travel to the United States.
In a statement he issued, he said the false news as being circulated via a parody Twitter account and an old NTA news video.
He said in one of the fake Twitter accounts, his name, @MohammedLai, was used to disseminate the ludicrous news that Buhari was to leave Nigeria for the USA on Monday ”to condole with President Trump over the floods in Houston”.
Mohammed also said an old NTA News video was being circulated on the Social Media claimed that President Buhari had 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,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
The minister warned that Nigerians should disregard any news credited to any account in his name, either on Twitter or Facebook.
According to him, “Numerous parody accounts have been opened in my name on the two platforms, when indeed I have no Twitter or Facebook accounts.”
He said 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 criticized Senator Dino Melaye for attending the Notting Hill Carnival in the UK.
He said the two instances highlighted the dangers posed to the polity by the purveyors of fake news and disinformation.
He stressed that the Federal Government would soon fish out those behind the actions.
His words: “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,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
