'Those behind fake news will be prosecuted', Minister says

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, June 4.

He said the publishers of fake news intend to destabilise the polity and cause disunity among the country’s various ethnic and religious groups.

In the statement, which was signed by Segun Adeyemi, the Special Adviser to the Minister, Mohammed urged Nigerians to be extra vigilant in view of the worsening cases of fake news being spread by the unscrupulous persons.

He noted that over the weekend alone, several major cases of fake news were recorded, each of them capable of causing panic, triggering chaos or setting one group against the other.

Mohammed said a gory video of a blast that occurred many years ago was being circulated along with the false news of a bomb blast in Abuja.

He also mentioned news of a non-existent bomb blast in Lagos, which was also widely circulated.

The minister added that the latest strategy being employed by the purveyors of fake news is to attribute to top government officials, improbable statements capable of destabilising the polity, causing tension and threatening the country's unity.

"This is why we are appealing to Nigerians not to ever engage in a knee-jerk reaction to any news, and to subject every information to a very serious scrutiny by checking with security agencies and government spokespersons," he said.

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The minister described the fake news phenomenon as 'the scourge of our times' noting that it would "probably get worse in the months ahead."

He, therefore, called on all Nigerians to be very vigilant so that fake news purveyors do not succeed in their quest to sow the seeds of chaos and confusion.

He also appealed to the traditional media, which has a reputation to protect, to join the campaign against the carriers of fake news.