The Federal Government has commenced investigation of some websites which had been spreading fake news about the coronavirus pandemic.
The government also warned humanitarian organisations and human rights organisations against fake news, saying no government would fold its hands and allow fake news to destroy it.
The Minister of Information and culture, Lai Mohammed who stated these in Abuja on Friday during the press briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, said, “when we start taking appropriate actions, we hope there will be no complaints from any quarters.”
According to him, the purveyors of fake news aimed to destroy the war against COVID – 19 and pull down the government.
He said, “We need to interrogate the motives of purveyors of fake news. For many, the 2019 election is not yet over and they must do everything to bring down the government, pure and simple.
“They want to destroy the war against COVID – 19 and they want to destroy the government. It is so sad that other wise intelligent people believe them. We are investigating the websites, we are also documenting these fake news and investigating the proponents and we traced those websites, we traced them to people who have pathological hatred for this government and people who have their websites outside Nigeria. Once there is poverty, the first casualty is integrity.
“We warn all humanitarian organisations and human rights fighters that no government will fold its arm and allow fake news to destroy it. So when we start taking appropriate actions, we hope there will be no complaints from any quarters.
“For many of them, it’s about attacking the integrity of some individuals, attacking the integrity of programmes of government so that the government will not achieve anything. If you look at the fake news since Covid – 19 started, you begin to appreciate what I am saying better.
“They said that the committee has decided and agreed on the formula to be used to share any money collected, thereby attacking the integrity of members of the committee. They said I said N100 billion has been given to the people of Nigeria and there is actually no hunger in the land. It is to incite Nigerians against the government and the committee.
“They said I said the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (Chikwe Ihekweazu) has spent N1 billion on text messages. They know that the NCDC DG is a key person in this fight and so, let’s destroy his integrity.
“They also said the Chinese people are here to treat President Muhammadu Buhari and other members of the cabinet who have Coronavirus. These things are not funny because they know their aim.”
