Yemisi Izuora
The Senate President Godswill Akpabio, has highlighted the dangers and possible distractions fake news can cause a society, as he stressed that fake news kills faster than the gun.
Akpabio, in his remarks at the 2023 national conference of the Guild Of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP in Abuja, on Wednesday, said, “I dare say that fake news can be a channel for mass destruction, hence I urge all of us to treat it (fake news) as a dangerous weapon for the destruction of the society.”
Represented by his media adviser, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, Akpabio, extended an invitation to the GOCOP to partner with the National Assembly towards enunciating a legislative framework that can frontally address this malaise.
“Beloved gentlemen of the press, I dare say that you must not be shy in this task. As you regularly try to fish out the malfeasances among those of us in the political class and other segments of society, I plead with you to also carry out the same self-cleansing exercise by not just identifying the fakes purveyors in your midst, but also by helping the National Assembly to fashion out a framework to curtail this practice.” he appealed.
As a political actor, he said he has severally been the victim of fake news marketed by some sections of the media including some of you here, albeit maybe ignorantly, for example.
Narrating his experience, Akpabio recalled, that Just a few days ago, an online publication pushed a story that his wife was being given an office in the Senate in a 20 paragraph story. “Three of the paragraphs in that story mentioned the issue while the remaining 17 paragraphs were devoted to reciting fables and other mysteries about me that were totally untrue and unconnected.
“Such story ordinarily would have raised my pressure so much but my respected colleagues in the Senate and other reasonable Nigerians reacted so positively in its condemnation as an unwarranted act on the innocent wife of the President of the Senate.
“If I survived, many other Nigerians may not have survived the fake news published by many platforms against my person and offices I have variously held.” Akpabio said.
He went further to narrate, “When a news platform reports that a government project, say a road has been commissioned, members of the public who read the news may be led to believe that the road is good for travel. However, if it is not true and that the road actually may be laced with death traps, unwary motorists could be led to accidents and deaths.”
He advised that as they continue with their deliberation, they should be reminded them of his earlier injunction of taking out time to address them on taking personal health and general wellbeing seriously.
“I will conclude by urging GOCOP to, as a body, fashion out plans for common health checks individually and for your members, I believe that you can negotiate a better deal for your members if you go as a group to health institutions on this. I reiterate this because of the common saying, health is wealth.”