A former minister of finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned politicians to desist from using her name to spread fake news.
The minister in a statement issued to okay.ng on her behalf by Paul Nwabuikwu, her spokesman, said some groups and individuals had used her name to further their political objectives.
Nwabuikwu said such falsehood is being disseminated on social media showing the former minister supporting one political interest or the other.
The statement noted that: “This misuse of the minister’s name comes in many forms. There are fake newspaper articles published under her name,” the statement read.
“Fake quotations canvassing certain views which are falsely attributed to her. Even fake audios in which someone pretends to be the former finance minister have been going round.
“Most of these are typically disseminated on WhatsApp and other forms of social media. In one recent example, a video of the minister was cleverly edited, leaving out crucial information and context to give a totally false impression.
“These shenanigans are designed to give the impression that she supports one particular political interest or position or the other. We urge Nigerians to ignore these mischievous antics by political peddlers of fiction.
“Dr Okonjo-Iweala is very capable of speaking for herself if and when she wants to and does not need the help of anyone to do that.
“In this political season of forged and fake news, we urge the media and the public to crosscheck the authenticity of any quotations, articles, audios and videos attributed to Dr Okonjo-Iweala before giving them credence or going public with them.
“If it does not come directly from Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s twitter account then kindly discount it.”
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