Lai Mohammed wants you to know that Buhari won't be begging Cubana for money

It all began as a joke from Nigeria's mischievous, creative and boisterous meme factory:

As socialite and businessman, Obi Cubana, buried his mum with fanfare and splashing of the cash in Oba, Anambra State, breaking the internet while at it, a meme in which Vice President Osinbajo was begging President Buhari to head to Anambra for some federal loans, quickly made the rounds in WhatsApp groups and on social media.

For context, Nigeria is so broke right now (or so they say) and the federal government is always looking for where to borrow some money, in order to fund critical infrastructure and keep the bureaucracy spinning.

As the Naira continued to rain in Oba, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, was quickly dragged into the world of bants and memes.

It was a risky move, seeing as Mohammed has no patience for fake news merchants; and the man has been railing against social media and the need for social media regulation since forever.

One online news medium clearly didn't get the memo, however, quoting Minister Mohammed as saying that “Obi Cubana has this kind of money and Nigeria is borrowing money from China? Cubana should borrow us money. Nigeria is collapsing."

It was a joke and mischief taken too far. But trust Lai Mohammed not to get the joke or let it pass.

The Minister has now denied asking Cubana Group Chairman, Obi Iyiegbu aka Obi Cubana, to loan money to Nigeria.

On the verified Facebook page of the Ministry of Information and Culture, a ‘Fake News’ stamp is placed with some palpable venom, on the news report that has Mohammed's picture.

There you have it.