The Presidency, Monday, punctured claims making the rounds in the social media that President Muhammadu Buhari was set to embark on a 20-day marathon journey overseas. The controversial reports claimed that the president would fly to the United Kingdom from where he would go to Saudi Arabia; then Austria.
But a release issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, debunked the report and advised Nigerians to be circumspect about what news they consume on social media and reports or videos they share.
Below is the full text of the warning by the Presidency:
BEWARE, MERCHANTS OF FAKE NEWS ON THE PROWL – PRESIDENCY
Purveyors of fake and concocted information are currently on overdrive, and Nigerians are urged to be careful what they consume as news, and also share with others, particularly from the social media.
An unfounded information has been making the rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to travel to the United Kingdom for 20 days, and from there proceed to Saudi Arabia, and then Austria. Fake. It is nothing but falsehood from mischievous minds.
Members of the First Family, Ministers, top government officials, the military, and other key institutions, are equally objects of this orchestrated falsehood, coming from enemies of national cohesion.
We urge Nigerians to be discriminatory about what they accept as credible information, and restrain themselves from sharing what they have not authenticated as genuine. That is how we can all collectively beat the malevolent minds at their pernicious games.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
February 17, 2020