“During the state elections, fake news was deployed as a propaganda weapon against the military by those who felt they were unable to rig or manipulate the elections because of the critical role the military was playing. Interestingly, such fake news was targeted at areas where the military had successfully prevented violence from spiraling out of control.”
Seven days after a non-governmental organization under the aegis of Coalition for Change and Transparency (CCT) exposed the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, of allegedly sponsoring propaganda and fake news against the Nigerian Army during the just concluded Governorship and State Assembly elections, some concerned Nigerians have accused the Nigerian media of covering up PDP and its chieftains’ atrocities.
One of the concerned citizens, who on Sunday called the attention of The DEFENDER to the NGO’s allegation, slammed the Nigerian media for what he described as open robbery against Nigeria’s right to know the truth of happening, adding that if the exposition by the coalition had been against ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or President Muhammadu Buhari it would have been hyped and made to go viral on social media.
It will be recalled that in a press conference in Abuja, last Monday, CCT alleged that Wike and other members of the PDP resorted to cheap blackmails, going as far as allegedly bribing some foreign officials to the tune of $1 million.
But the citizen, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said if Nigeria is truly desired to move forward, the masses of the country, against listening to the call to unrest by the failed opposition, should rather rise rallying behind the integrity-based President that God has chosen for them in his move against “these elements who are rigging elections with all desperation and are the ones still talking loud accusing the ruling party of using the military and INEC to rig elections”.
The CCT had said: “During the state elections, fake news was deployed as a propaganda weapon against the military by those who felt they were unable to rig or manipulate the elections because of the critical role the military was playing.
“Interestingly, such fake news was targeted at areas where the military had successfully prevented violence from spiraling out of control.
“Considering that fake news is now recognized globally as a weapon, and knowing the damages that could result from its deployment, the Coalition for Change and Transparency (CCT) reviewed instances of the use of fake news against the Nigerian Military with a view to identifying those that deployed it, those that exploited it, those that benefited from it and possibly understand the intents of those in the fake news chain.
“In some instances, such contents get into the mainstream media, whose credibility and traditional status and believability are exploited to confer credibility on the lies being told by the propagandists.
“It is most unfortunate that even these cyber operatives and the opposition are being used in the fake news chain as the real culprit are foreign operatives that exploit such content. A specific culprit is the United Kingdom, which based its assessment of the election on fake news about the military beating staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), effectively exploiting the fake news that it had trained the cyber operatives of the opposition to produce.
“The Coalition for Change and Transparency (CCT) therefore condemns in the strongest terms possible the United Kingdom’s unwarranted deployment of fake news to cause disaffection among Nigerians and against the Nigerian military.
“We see it as a deliberate and calculated attempt to cause violence against the military such that the situation will quickly degenerate to a point where violent anti-military protests will bring down the government and cause constitutional crisis for the country.
“CCT hereby by asks the United Kingdom High Commission in Nigeria to retract the offensive tweet and apologize for willfully attempting to incite violence in Nigeria through the promotion of fake news.
We in the same vein demand that @UKinnigeria including the UK High Commission in Nigeria cease further comments about the election in Nigeria or be faced with deterrent actions from citizens. Nigeria does not interfere in UK elections so there is no justification for the attempts by the United Kingdom to manipulate the conduct and the outcome of the elections in Nigeria.”
Aside this exposition that was reported in the media including the Daily Independent, another concerned citizen, who spoke in Lagos, said: “What INEC did on 16 February suddenly posting the presidential election saved a lot of disaster for Nigeria because, opposition party had heated the polity so much that there was tension everywhere. So, if INEC went ahead with that polls conduct there would be a lot of bloodshed.
“But we are still waiting to see what the government and its security forces will do in cubing these unpatriotic politicians, as we watch in disappointment how people like same Governor Wike would be allowed to set up probe panel on killing a man who could best be described as ballot box snatcher in the name of PDP agent whereas, he used the court to the investigation by IGP into the beheading of ASP Mohammed Alkali during Rivers national assembly rerun election and still went ahead failing during this last election in the state to set up such probe panel to investigate the killing of soldiers and police officers.”
