ABUJA, JANUARY 25, 2017 – Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said there is no truth in the messages being circulated on the health of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed said the President was hale and hearty and urged Nigerians to disregard the subversive messages being circulated via text message and the social media about the President’s health.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, Mohammed said the fabricated messages were being orchestrated by those who feel threatened by the emerging order.
He said the naysayers had also resorted to the use of ethnicity and religion as tools to divide Nigerians, overheat the polity and cause panic among the citizenry, in addition to using fake news and disinformation to distort government activities.
The minister said while opposition and criticism are all part of democracy, the crafting and circulation of subversive materials and scare-mongering are unacceptable, hence the full wrath of the law will be brought to bear on those who are bent on subverting the state.
He added: ”The source/sources of the fabricated messages are already being investigated and the authors should prepare to face the consequences of their actions.
”The emerging trend of resorting to destabilization and scare-mongering is not unexpected, considering this government’s clampdown on the corrupt elements in the society, the plugging of all financial leaks which has derailed the gravy train of the looters of public treasury and the enthronement of probity and transparency in the polity.
”While we will neither stifle press freedom nor abridge the citizens’ right to express themselves freely, whether through criticism or protests, the security agencies will neither allow any resort to violence nor a willful subversion of the state for whatever reason.”
