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Government has been accusing citizens and the press of peddling “Fake News” and pushing multi-pronged efforts to suffocate channels of information dissemination.
I agree,
It is true that there is #FakeNews.
It is true that individuals are peddling #FakeNews.
It is true that the media is peddling #FakeNews
It is also true that #FakeNews is doing incalculable damage not just to society but also to public trust in the media profession.
It is also true that the media space needs to self-regulate to weed out #FakeNews.
But there is one truth also that is missing from this whole gamut.
That is, Government is the biggest peddler of #FakeNews.
What effort is been made to ensure that #FakeNews from government is curbed?
Who should be the fall guy or fall babe when government peddles #FakeNews?
In the various #SocialMediaBills pushed around, what are the prescribed punishments for #FakeNews from government?
Why does GOVERNMENT, who is arguably the biggest dispenser of #FakeNews, feel that it has a duty to control something it is as guilty of, as those it accuses?
Let me give you some examples of what I am talking about.
1. Every home in Nigeria got COVID 19 palliative – Humanitarian Affairs Minister. #FakeNews
2. Only 10 Kankara school boys were abducted – Shehu Garba #FakeNews
3. Boko Haram has been technically defeated – Buhari #FakeNews
4. I have created 20,000 new jobs in Cross River civil service – Ayade #FakeNews
5. Our government is doing everything to fight corruption – Buhari #FakeNews
6. Fashola finds camera a #LekkiTollGate – #FakeNews
7. Nobody died at #LekkiTollGate – FG
#FakeNews
8. Government is not fixing fuel prices, the sector has been deregulated – FG #FakeNews
When all these offensive lies are dished out to the public by a government, who should be held accountable and with what legal instrument?
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo
