Lai Mohammed dismisses claims Buhari has travelled to the US to commiserate with flood victims

INFORMATION minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed has urged Nigerians to disregard a fake news story currently making the rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled to the US to commiserate with the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

 

Over the last few days, it has been reported that President Buhari has flown to the US to console President Donald Trump over the losses the hurricane caused. As soon as news about the travel plans emerged, President Buhari came under attack, as Nigeria is also suffering from the effects of a major flood in Benue State.

 

Dismissing the story as false, Alhaji Mohammed said one of the numerous parody Twitter accounts in his name @MohammedLai, was used to disseminate the fake and ludicrous news. He added that an old NTA News video being circulated on social media claims that President Buhari has already left for the UN General Assembly in New York, where he will meet President Trump.

 

Alhaji Mohammed said: ”This is a 2015 NTA News video that was repackaged to look current and to give the impression that the president left Daura, where he is celebrating Eid-el-Kabir, directly for New York. Numerous parody accounts have been opened in my name on the two platforms, when indeed I have no Twitter or Facebook accounts.

 

”Fake news, disinformation and hate speech are the antics of the naysayers, those who are pathologically opposed to this administration. That is why we are urging Nigerians to be more discerning and to double check any information emanating from social media."

 

He urged Nigerians to disregard any news credited to any account in his name, either on Twitter or Facebook. According to Alhaji Mohammed,. that same account was used to circulate a fake report that President Buhari sharply criticised Senator Dino Melaye for attending the Notting Hill Carnival in the UK.

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