No doubt, the tragedy of fake news has become a global epidemic that
\nthreatens mankind in the face of globalization. The worry about the
\ndeadly effects of fake news has become a global concern as mankind
\nstruggles to battle an ennui that derives its lifeblood from feeding
\nfalse narratives and disinformation to people for ulterior intents.<\/p>\n
In a recent policy paper, \u2018Tackling Online Disinformation\u2019 the
\nEuropean Union states;<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exposure of citizens to large scale disinformation, including
\nmisleading or outright false information, is a major challenge for
\nEurope\u201d. It went further to say, \u201cDisinformation is verifiably false
\nor misleading information created, presented and disseminated for
\neconomic gain or to intentionally deceive the public. It may have
\nfar-reaching consequences, cause public harm, be a threat to democratic
\npolitical and policy-making processes, and may even put the protection
\nof EU citizens’ health, security and their environment at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisinformation erodes trust in institutions and in digital and
\ntraditional media and harms our democracies by hampering the ability of
\ncitizens to take informed decisions. It can polarise debates, create or
\ndeepen tensions in society and undermine electoral systems, and have a
\nwider impact on European security. It impairs freedom of opinion and
\nexpression, a fundamental right enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental
\nRights of the European Union\u201d.<\/p>\n
In announcing an 18 million Pounds budget to fight fake news in Eastern
\nEurope and the Balkans in July 2019, the British Foreign Secretary,
\nJeremy Hunt stated;<\/p>\n
\u201cWith only 10% of the world\u2019s population having access to a free
\nmedia, fake news and disinformation continue to undermine and
\ndestabilise societies.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s funding announcement will support journalists working in
\nsome of the most repressive societies and step up the attack against
\nfake news.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy aim for this conference is to work with my counterparts to agree a
\nway to protect media freedom and impose a cost on those who abuse it\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Nigeria, fake news has become a pandemic that has placed the
\nsecurity of lives and propertied, inter-ethnic and inter-religious
\nharmony in grave danger. Since the 2015 elections where all the fault
\nlines of Nigerian nationhood were exhumed and launched for political
\ninterests, fake news has become a convenient vehicle for hate, bigotry,
\nincitement and division among diverse interests of the multi-faceted
\nNigerian nation and nothing is spared to evoke this in the quest to
\nprovoke widespread national disharmony. The government must quit
\npretending the task to come up with far reaching measures to deal with
\nthis malaise is not very urgent at present.<\/p>\n
Recently, the National Assembly made efforts to tackle this notorious
\ncancer when Senator Sani Mohammed Musa proposed a bill to ensure those
\nthat spread and manufacture fake news are sanctioned proportionate to
\ntheir levels of involvement.\u00a0 There was a needless furore premised on
\nthe charge that the bill was aimed at gagging free speech. Though the
\nopposition against the bill had not stopped the progression of the bill,
\nthe senate seemed to have paused progression of the bill but the
\ndangerous epidemic of fake news has gone haywire in recent times which
\ncalls for an urgent action to enact the bill into law and follow up with
\nthe needed action.<\/p>\n
Last week, I was somewhere, amongst a group and a gentleman who looked
\neducated was playing a whatsapp video about alleged mass massacre of
\nevery Igbo and Yoruba along Markudi-Abuja Expressway. I didn\u2019t see the
\nvideo but I was hearing the audio message where an emotional voice was
\nnarrating that every Yoruba or Igbo man that was seen on commercial
\nmotorcycle (okada) along Markudi-Abuja expressway was killed and
\nbutchered into pieces. The man was nearly weeping as he engaged in the
\nnarrative, asking why such should be allowed to happen. Curiously, he
\ndidn\u2019t mention the name of the culprits killing Igbo and Yoruba on
\nokada on Markudi-Abuja highway. As the video stopped, the gentleman,
\nwhom I presumed is educated and another less educated Yoruba started
\nangrily wondering why such carnage should be allowed to happen in
\nNigeria. I couldn\u2019t stand it. I interjected and asked the two
\ngentlemen if they believed the video and they answered in the
\naffirmation. I asked them where Markudi-Abuja expressway is located and
\nthey kept quiet. I further asked them if Yoruba and Igbo travel by okada
\nfrom Markurdi to Abuja. They kept quiet. I asked them when the mass
\nkillings were being done and they replied that the video said it is
\nhappening presently. I asked why no medium is reporting the news. They
\nkept quiet. Feeling caught by my questions, the gentlemen just mopped at
\nme as I went on to educate them on the dangers of allowing some bitter,
\nangry demonic interests use them as cannon fodders for their selfish
\npolitical interests. I educated them about Rwanda and the fact that some
\nof those that felt they were sowing mischief by spreading false news and
\nbigotry got caught up in the mass massacre that happened in that
\ncountry. They thanked me and that ended the conversation.<\/p>\n
This is a common phenomenon happening all over the country as people
\nhave gone berserk cooking and spreading narratives pf false genocides
\nhappening all over the country and mobilizing people to react. Through
\nthe uncensored social media, Nigerians are being fed gargantuan false
\nnarratives and being incited to war and the government can\u2019t just sit
\nidly by and watch this degenerate.<\/p>\n
Then on Sunday, the nation was shocked when the news filtered in that a
\nbomber, Nathaniel Samuel, was arrested in a Pentecostal church in Kaduna
\nwith bombs strapped on his body, with the intent to detonate the bomb
\namong the worshippers. What followed was a chilling effort to misinform
\nand manipulate the information about the bomber along religious lines as
\nthe Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna branch
\nclaimed that the bomber\u2019s name was rather Mohammed Musa and that his
\nname was changed to Nathaniel Samuel by the police after he was handed
\nover to them. He maintained that the bomber is not a Christian, as his
\nname suggests, but a Muslim. This created a he confusion among Nigerians
\nand widened the conspiracy theory about the incidents and other
\nincidents of insecurity in the country.<\/p>\n
But the bomber was to be paraded before the press the next day where he
\nnot only confirmed that he is indeed Nathaniel Samuel but a trainee
\npastor in the church he wanted to bomb! This was the confirmation that
\nstilled the burgeoning conspiracy theory the Kaduna CAN mischievously
\ncreated and which was devoured hook, line and sinker by the other side
\nof the Nigerian political divide that had invested heavily in
\ninstigating, circulating and spreading dire security trajectories for
\nNigeria since 2015.\u00a0 Why are there no arrests for this deliberate
\ndevious effort to sabotage the security of the nation but to incite
\nreligious faiths against each other?<\/p>\n
The Kaduna CAN Chairman had to follow a Daily Trust newspaper reporter
\nto the father of the bomber who not only confirmed his son\u2019s identity
\nbut regretted that he should indulge in such dastardly act.<\/p>\n
Nigeria is presently awash with fake news, actively generated and shared
\nby those who aim to get back at the Buhari government for preventing
\nthem from gaining unhindered access to the public treasury. The social
\nmedia in Nigeria is swarming with all manners of fabricated gory tales
\nmeant to instigate strife, bloodletting\u00a0 and unrest in Nigeria and
\nsatiate the beastly urge of those that deigned Nigeria as their
\nexclusive treasury cove; to raid at their pleasure. They haunt for gory
\naudio visual materials that happened in far flung countries and fit in
\ntheir narratives of mass killings, mass dehumanization and mass torture
\nso as to provoke a mass insurrection among the citizenry as a payback
\nfor their withering political and pecuniary fortunes. Tribal bodies,
\nreligious groups, ethnic groups, political interest groups are eager
\nrecruits to this widening fatal coalition and blood and broken limbs
\nform the chassis of their bestial businesses. Through WhatsApp,
\nFacebook, google, YouTube and other variants of the social media, these
\nghostly vermin have eaten deep into the arteries of many Nigerians.
\nFeeding on anger, bigotry, hate and frustration, fake news has rendered
\nmany Nigerians walking forces and zombies to mischievous and devilish
\nramparts who see in it the vengeance for their loss of political
\nprivileges.<\/p>\n
One will be damned to think fake news capture the uneducated and
\nunsophisticated genre of the Nigerian population. On the contrary, the
\nbarons of fake news are the worsted political speculators who have lost
\ntheir privileged looting position, the top civil servants who no longer
\nmilk government coffers as before, the questionably educated Nigerians
\nwhose pseudo education cannot guarantee survival outside the capacity to
\nplunder the commonwealth. Hate speech is being driven by the displaced
\nelite who cannot fathom why the treasury is freed from their malevolent
\nreach. They want the Nigerian house to collapse on everybody. They want
\nto act the blind Samson and pull the entire Nigerian edifice down on all
\nNigerians. The simple-minded rabid bigots and ethno-religious jingoists
\nthey recruit to do their dastardly acts are mere pawns to their dirty
\nbiddings.<\/p>\n
But for Nigeria to outlive the morbid fate haunting it, the National
\nAssembly must muster the political will to push through the anti-fake
\nnews bill and give it the force of the law. Commensurate punishments
\nmust be put in place to punish fabricating and sharing of fake news. The
\npunishments must be pungent enough to deter those intent on employing
\nthe social media as vista for national calamity. The proposed bill must
\narm the citizens with tools for reporting perpetrators and enhancers of
\nfake news, starting from who shared the news last. The state must put in
\nplace organs for enforcement so that Nigerians will be more careful in
\ncirculating dangerous materials that injure the collective safety and
\nwellbeing of Nigerians. The intent of the law would be to deter
\nNigerians from procuring and sharing materials which source they cannot
\ndefend and where one runs foul of this desiderati, he would get severely
\npunished so as to deter others from dong same.<\/p>\n
The time to act on this imperative is now otherwise, Nigeria will soon
\nimplode under the full weight of fake news, to the pleasure of those
\nthat are investing heavily in plunging the nation to preventable
\nfratricide for their demonic interests.<\/p>\n
Peter Claver Oparah.<\/p>\n
Ikeja, Lagos.<\/p>\n