Caveat!
This is what we consistently have to deal with in Abia, even during a time of global crisis.
1. An opposition operative who works for a sore politician lied and virtually destroyed a hotel in Aba that someone sweated for years to build. He made an audaciously evil false claim that a COVID-19 patient lodged in the hotel he named and since then customers have fled and refused to patronize the hospitality outfit with the attendant loss of huge income and threat to the very existence of the hotel.
* Complete fake news conjured by the individual who apparently was directed to do so by his sponsor. To date we don’t have a single confirmed case of COVID-19 in Abia and checks at the hotel revealed that the so called blogger lied as usual.”
2. A fake oath purportedly taken in India was shared via WhatsApp and Facebook to the effect that Governor Ikpeazu took the oath in India and it was found when the house of a top Abia politician was searched.
“All though his life on earth, Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has never visited India not to talk of taking an oath either there or anywhere in the world.”
3. Today they are sharing pictures from a program organized in Port Harcourt by a religious leader with the false claim that it was Governor Ikpeazu that was sharing food to Abians during this period of lockdown.
” Check out the original picture attached and also note that Governor Ikpeazu has not even shared the planned palliative for vulnerable persons and our plans do not include sharing cooked food for obvious reasons.
Yet this website called Igbo Watch was as usual employed by the same set of embittered people to tarnish the image of the Governor.
Will anyone beg, plead Press Freedom or freedom of speech if we take legal actions against those behind these aggressive display of consistent malice? is enough not yet enough???
Do people even know that sharing false information and malicious publications is an offense punishable under our Cybercrime law 2015? Even those who only share malicious information are liable under the law and the excuse of not knowing the material is fake does not save you. Adding question mark after sharing false information does not remove your culpability.
Who cares about the fact that the Governor is also a husband and father to his young children?
Someone should help me understand why we shouldn’t start taking legal actions against the creators and purveyors of all these falsehood rather than having to waste time explaining to the world that those folks are sore losers.
Is peddling blatant falsehood against a government official part of criticizing a govt?