Lai Mohammed says news of President's trip to US is fake

The Minister said the news was circulated via a parody Twitter account in his name, @MohammedLai, and an old NTA news video.

In a statement issued on Sunday, September 3, by the Minister's Special Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, he described the report as "ludicrous".

The handle had tweeted that Buhari is due to leave Nigeria for the US on Monday "to condole with President Trump over the floods in Houston''.

An old NTA News video further caused confusion on Social media - the video report said the President already left for the United Nations 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.

Mohammed stressed that Nigerians should disregard any news credited to any account in his name, either on Twitter or Facebook.

"Numerous parody accounts have been opened in my name on the two platforms, when indeed I have no Twitter or Facebook accounts," he said.

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The Minister recalled how the same parody Twitter account 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 shady actions.

''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 said.