Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the
growing cases of hate speech, disinformation and fake news in the
country are being orchestrated by those opposed to the Nigerian
government to “discredit the government, destabilize the polity and
make the country ungovernable”.
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, on Thursday.
”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.
Mr. 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.
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,” he 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.
Citing other instances, Mr. Mohammed said: ”On Wednesday, 26
April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at
the meeting.
“I said, among others, that President Muhammadu 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,” he said.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the
growing cases of hate speech, disinformation and fake news in the
country are being orchestrated by those opposed to the Nigerian
government to “discredit the government, destabilize the polity and
make the country ungovernable”.
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, on Thursday.
”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.
Mr. 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.
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,” he 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.
Citing other instances, Mr. Mohammed said: ”On Wednesday, 26
April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at
the meeting.
“I said, among others, that President Muhammadu 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,” he said.