Media practitioners have been urged to verify information at their disposal before going public with them, in view of the trending incidences of fake news being peddled against public officials and individuals, especially by bloggers.
The Executive Secretary/Founder, Centre for Strategic Communications for Defence and Security (CSSDC), Bonaventure Melah, gave the advice on Friday in Abuja while reacting to the warning issued by the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on alleged fake news published against a Chief Executive Officer of a federal government agency.
Reacting to the development in a statement, Melah cited similar publications last week which he said were deliberate falsehoods fabricated by some platforms to tarnish the reputation of the Chief Executive Officer of AA&R Investment Group, Abdullahi Bashir Haske, whom he described as an entrepreneur and innovator whose success in business is as a result of hard work, commitment, and integrity.
Making reference to the statement by the DSS and EFCC, Melah said it has become clear that Bashir Haske had nothing to do with the alleged leadership skirmishes at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as were alleged by some bloggers.
He said: “One of such speculative contraptions suggested Abdullahi Bashir Haske was the face behind what the authors described as ‘Bayo Ojulari’s troubles.’ While one part of the story had it that a huge amount of money belonging to the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, was found in the custody of Haske, which prompted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Security (DSS) to abduct him and force him to sign a prepared resignation letter, another plank of the story suggested that Haske was an in-law to a major politically exposed person and that his relationship with Ojulari meant the GCEO of NNPCL was a ‘friend’ of the opposition leader, and therefore the government went after him.
“The two sides were both naked lies with no iota of truth in them. They also had no remote link to the power game, if there was any, that has been checkmated anyway.
“Another issue worth attention is the attempt to pour tar on the person of Ibrahim Basir Haske, a 38-year-old young entrepreneur who has been handling logistics contracts with NNPCL for many years now. Therefore, the attempt to use the media to portray the young man as an opportunist who wanted to take advantage of his age-long relationship with Mr. Ojulari to cash out from NNPCL is equally fabricated lies written with malicious intent.”
According to Melah, Nigeria is a capitalist country with a constitution that allows citizens to aspire for quality life through ownership of properties and wealth acquired legitimately.
“We must be reminded that Nigeria is a free-market capitalist economy. The Constitution of Nigeria allows citizens the right to work, do business, and own properties and wealth legitimately. It is therefore the right of citizens to do business with individuals, private organisations, and government agencies. What is important and also should concern the public is whether or not a person’s businesses are legitimate and if one’s wealth is earned and not stolen.
“For those who do not know, Abdullahi Ibrahim Bashir Haske is not a criminal and has no such records anywhere.
“On the contrary, Haske is a successful business tycoon with interest in diverse sectors both in Nigeria and other parts of the world. He is the Chief Executive Officer of AA&R Investment Group, which has business ties with NNPCL long before Ojulari assumed office.
“His businesses traverse energy, logistics, and agribusiness. Another lie from the pit of hell in the report was the allegation that because Bayo Ojulari and Abdullahi Bashir Haske are friends, they are funding opposition against Tinubu because Haske is an in-law to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“What is true is that Bashir Haske’s personal relationship with Atiku Abubakar has nothing to do with Haske’s business dealings with NNPCL under Ojulari, since the young man has been in business with the nation’s oil industry, especially NNPCL, for over 10 years, long before Ojulari’s appointment.
“It is a dangerous trend in Nigeria that governance is being interrupted by dangerous politics of termites, which is designed to tear and destroy anything that has to do with government, with the aim of getting at the President and to achieve political mileage towards 2027. Politicians should allow Nigeria to breathe,” he stated.