The Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, on Thursday counselled Nigerians against Fake News in the overall interest of the country.
It said that the recent #EndSARS protests that rocked the country was driven by fake news.
Bichi, who gave the counsel in Abuja while receiving members of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), said that this was the right time for all and sundry to unite for the unity and peace of the country in order to earn her greatness.
The DG, who was represented by the Spokesman of DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, urged Nigerians to shun fake news because of its damaging tendencies on national peace and security of the nation.
According to him, Nigeria is a great nation with great potentials, adding that “what the nation needs is unity, we know our security challenges, security is the responsibility of all and sundry, we have to come together to strategize how to make the country to achieve her greatness.”
He said, “The service has no image crisis, we will collaborate with other sister security agencies in defending the sovereignty of the country, our greatest success is keeping the country one, we will not compromise on it and in doing this, the service will not undermine the rights of any Nigerian because we are all working towards a common goal.
“I urge you to rise up and use your advantage position as Nollywood to educate Nigerians, to mobilise Nigerians for building a new Nigeria so that we can change the narrative for a society where peace and Unity reigns, we should all join forces with the government to build Nigeria because we don’t have either country to call ours than Nigeria.”
The DG, who said that the service would be ready to partner with the association in educating Nigerians on the need for peaceful coexistence, declared that the service would remain silent on the recent #EndSARS protests in the country since the matter was already being handled by judicial panels in the various states of the Federation.
In his remarks, the President of the association, Mr Ejezie Emeka Rollas, said the association shared in the dream of a better Nigeria, where success would be the reward for hard work and not otherwise, declaring that the era of glorifying criminalities was far gone.
He restated the support of the association to the efforts of the service to promote the core values of a new Nigeria, the values of hard work, honesty and free enterprise.
