FG: Fake news can lead to civil war

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has cautioned Nigerians, especially the media against the spread of fake news, saying it can lead to civil war.

He spoke yesterday in Abuja at a two-day international conference themed, “Democracy and Disinformation: How Fake News Threatens our Freedom and Democracy in Nigeria: organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and MacArthur Foundation.

He said fake news threatens democracy and security of Nigeria, as it played a role in the civil war that occurred in the country and that Nigeria could not afford to fall victim to the same circumstances that led to the war.

“The government has been doing its best in educating the public on the dangers of fake news through various avenues. Every one of us must verify information sent to them for authenticity before circulation,” Mohammed said.

A Senior Fellow at CDD, Prof Jubrin Ibrahim, said the importance of the conference was to strategize on how to protect the future of Nigeria.

He said the conference was also to protect the nation’s democracy, as fake news was like machinery aimed at distorting Nigeria’s election management and the electoral integrity.

The Director of the CDD, Idayat Hassan, wondered if it was possible to live in a world not dominated by mistruths, misquotations, false stories and outright lies.