By Jude Michael
The Anambra State Government has vowed to prosecute people who spread fake news about insecurity in the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, stated this in a press release he made available to journalists in Awka on Sunday.
He lamented that some people had used videos of happenings outside Anambra to spread fake news, describing those who involved in this as aiding insecurity.
He said the latest was a video circulating on the internet, which was purported to be an attack on innocent individuals in Umuchu, Aguata Local Government Area, by Fulani herdsmen.
He however stated that investigation had showed that the incident neither happened in Anambra State, nor was any indigene of the state involved.
Part of the release read: ‘The latest example is a video with a voice note alleging that Fulani herdsmen attacked a community in Umuchu, killing several people.
‘After investigations, the claim was discovered to be completely false, as no such incident occurred in Umuchu or anywhere in Anambra State, and Fulani herdsmen were not involved in any such attack.
‘The actual incident depicted in the video occurred in another state. It was just mischievous and malicious individuals circulating false audio and video messages on social media platforms, claiming to show incidents of insecurity in the State.
‘This is viewed as nothing short of propaganda from the pit of hell, orchestrated by individuals seeking to promote insecurity in Anambra State for reasons best known to them.
‘The government therefore warns that it will no longer tolerate this blatant attempt to undermine the peace and security of the state.
‘So, let it be known that perpetrators of fake news will henceforth be arrested and visited with the full wrath of the law,’ Mefor said.
He further added that the state had commenced work, and leveraging advanced technology to track down the originators of such fake news and would not hesitate to take decisive action, including prosecution in line with the express provisions of the cybercrime laws.
He said some videos used to deceive the public were old videos, many of which never originated from Anambra, but were deceitfully manipulated to depict recent happenings in the state.
