Presidency denies news on Buhari's trip to US credited to Minister
*President Muhammadu Buhari
(Nigeria) 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 or has travelled to the United States.
In a statement in Lagos on Sunday, 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 USA on Monday ''to condole with President 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 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.
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.''
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 criticized 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 shenanigans.
''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.
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