A socio-cultural group known as Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, has described Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum and Pan-Niger Delta Forum as lacking in wisdom on their allegation of incompetence against the Muhmmadu Buhari led Federal Government.

The forum, in its reaction to a communiqué issued by Afenifere, Ohaneze, Northern Elders Forum and Pan-Niger Delta Forum, called on leadership of the socio-cultural groups to mention some achievements of President Buhari-led administration while pointing out the shortcomings.

The Secretary-General of the Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, Mr Akin Malaolu, in a statement today, Saturday in Abuja, said that although there are growing concerns about killings and insurgency in some parts of the country, efforts made by the present administration to contain the situation was worth mentioning.

“For leaders of the groups to be united in passing jaundiced judgments on the administration of the All Progressives Congress is unfair.

“It shows lack of accuracy in measuring achievements of Buhari and his team at this material time in our national history.

“Such statement is least expected at a time when security agencies are recording successes in arrest of masterminds of mindless killings and abductions across the country, including the Chibok school girls.

“Military and other security agencies need to be encouraged for such performance by any patriotic group, not condemned in a ploy to spite the Federal Government.

“Cry of incompetence, high unemployment rate as claimed by the groups show the absence of accuracy and wisdom in their measurement of the nation’s recent achievements.”

Source: NAN. [myad]

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has made it known to Nigerians in Diaspora that 80 percent of what they read on social media are fake news and asked them to stop depending on them about the country.

The minister, who spoke in Washington, the United States of America at a meeting with the Nigeria Ambassador to USA, Justice Sylvanus Nsofor and the Embassy’s members of staff, said that social media are, largely purveyors of fake news and misinformation, which could threaten the peace of a nation.

Lai Mohammed stressed that social media is aggravating the Nigeria situation creating the impression that the country is at war, ethnic and religious crises.

“Fake news and misinformation when mixed with hate speech threaten the peace, unity, security and corporate existence of Nigerians.

“Many people in the Diaspora depend a lot on Social media for news about Nigeria. However, 80 per cent of what you read on social media is fake.

“Please, we implore you to visit our website information, where you can find information that is genuine about Nigeria.”

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting is on the sideline of a High-Level Roundtable attended by the minister, organized by the Atlantic Council, an American think tank on international affairs.

Source: NAN.

Former Vice President of Nigeria and leading Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has alleged that more Nigerians have died under the government led by the All Progressives Congress (APC) than in Iran and Afghanistan.

Atiku who spoke today, Saturday, when he formally declared in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election, promised to stop the wanton killings and return the country to sanity.

He said that the current APC government had performed below expedctations in the management of the economy, in keeping the country united and stemming the trend of wanton loss of lives.

“the APC government has destroyed our economy. They took over an economy with a growth of 7 per cent and brought it down to less than 2 per cent. Today we are witnessing the most insecure situation in Nigeria ever since APC took over.

“Fellow Nigerians, the government of APC has failed, it has failed to unite Nigerians” Atiku said adding “today we are more divided than in any other time in the history of this country.

“Today we have the highest unemployment rate in this country. More than 10 million of our people have been made unemployed under the watch of the APC administration.”

The PDP Presidential hopeful said that he is poised to work with other compatriots in the PDP to secure the party’s nomination for the next year’s election and rebuild the economy and reunite the country.

“What the PDP is going to do is to restore our economy, restore hope of a greater Nigeria and ensure that we have security of lives and property.

“I therefore appeal to all of you wherever you may be that it is time to now re-embrace the party that has given us unity, prosperity and security in this country.”

The Presidency has advised Nigerians to ignore those it described as ethnic and sectional groups who assembled in Abuja recently to shed crocodile tears.

The Presidency insisted that they are selfish leaders, who felt alienated after a transparent and accountable system halted their disproportionate survival on resources of the state.

Referring to a communique issued by the leaders of some socio-cultural organizations led by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and some ethnic and sectional groups which accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of incompetence in handling the security situation in the country, in a statement today, the Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu expressed worry on the “unholy alliance by these groups who are stepping up their assault on the All Progressives Congress administration as it expands its national dominance and moves closer to securing an outright victory in the elections next year.”

Garba Shehu said that the Presidency is dismayed at the refrain about President Buhari not doing anything about security in the country which he said, had now turned into the number one fake news item being peddled in the media.

The Presidency then referred all those it said are purveyors of falsehood to a State House press release published a few days ago and signed by Special Adviser on media and publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, which clearly outlined the government’s major achievements and initiatives in tackling security challenges from January to July, 2018.

“The press release which was titled: “Combating Insecurity in the Country: Lest We Forget – Presidency’’ listed out on going security operations: (1) Nigerian Army’s Exercise Ayem Akpatuma covering Benue, Taraba, Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Niger States launched in February to tackle cases of kidnappings, herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, among others; (2) Nigerian Air Force establishment of three new Quick Response Wings (QRW) in Taraba, Nasarawa and Benue States respectively, and deployment of Special Forces personnel.

“The press release also noted President Buhari’s approval for the establishment of a new Battalion of the Nigerian Army, as well as a new Police Area Command, in Birnin Gwari Local Council in Kaduna State, as part of measures to scale up security in response to the banditry affecting the area.

“We advise Nigerians to read Adesina’s statement if they haven’t yet, or re-read it for better understanding of the efforts to ensure peace in the country.

“It is sad and misleading for anyone to say that President Buhari had not responded to the security challenges in the country.

“No one can honestly say that President Buhari is doing nothing about security. It’s just a fake news item being peddled by selfish politicians with vested interests in keeping Nigerians incensed, and it risks being entrenched as reality if we don’t educate ourselves with the truth.”