Ribadu: Leave us out of your fake news propaganda, Kogi NUJ warns opposition figures

By Ibrahim Obansa, Lokoja

The Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of journalists has warned opposition figures in Kogi State to stop dragging Journalists into their propaganda against the Kogi State Government and play responsibile politics.

A statement signed by the state chairman, Alhaji Ademu Seidu, said the fake news making the rounds where the State commissioner for information, Kingsley Fanwo was alleged to have called for the sack of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu while addressing journalists in Lokoja, was embarrassing.

Ademu said the motive of the fabricators of the fake news was to cause dis-affection between the state government and the office of the NSA as there was no such interview granted to journalists in the state.

“Even if it was a press statement, journalists in Kogi State, who should be the first recipients, are aware of the channels of distribution of such and nothing close to this fake news was circulated,” he said.

He therefore challenged the purveyor of the fake news to provide an evidence of the publication of the said report by any news channel in Kogi State.

“It is necessary to warn politicians who want to malign their political opponents for whatever reasons to stop dragging Journalists into it.

“The fabricators of the make-believe story are oblivious of the strong synergy between the state government and the office of the National Security Adviser, which led to the release of the kidnapped students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara.

“Kogi State Government issued a statement, signed by the Commissioner for Information, eulogizing the NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, for his roles in the release of the kidnapped students and other security interventions in the state soon after the students were released.

“While we will not speak for the state government as media professionals, we see it as a responsibility to clarify to the general public that the Kogi Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, did not hold any interactive session with Journalists on the subject matter of the fake news.