Imo State government has dismissed as puerile, ludicrous, and irresponsible the recent attempt by enemies of the State to rubbish the profile of Governor Hope Uzodimma through fake news.
It said the fake news being circulated in the social media purporting a Supreme Court judge to have apologised to Imo people over the ruling five years ago was one in a series of failed attempts to rubbish the reputation of Uzodimma.
Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba regretted that the purveyors of the fake news appear not to be tired even when “they have failed woefully and repeatedly in their satanic mission to destroy the governor politically.”
He, however, promised to match them in their game so as not to confuse the public , especially Imo people, on the true nature of issues.
“We shall continue to counter them lest they get away with these tissues of lies and propaganda aimed at tarnishing the image of the governor, no matter how incredible and ridiculous,” the Commissioner declared.
According to Emelumba, in their haste to impersonate the so called Supreme Court justice who purportedly apologised, blaming her action on eye infection, no name was given and the place and event where she made the statement were not also given.
He noted that those who continue to dwell on the Supreme Court judgment have refused to accept defeat even when Uzodimma roundly trounced them in last year’s governorship election.
Said he: “Because the opposition continues to live in denial, it has never occurred to them that after the Supreme Court judgment, PDP sought a review where the learned Justices threw the books at them with a heavy cost. They also had another opportunity to test their popularity in another election, yet Uzodimma floored them in all the 27 local government areas of the State. Is it not time for them to go hide their faces in shame?”
The Commissioner blamed the social media for aiding the opposition in the publication of unsubstantiated materials, especially the instant one that seeks to denigrate the integrity of a Supreme Court judge.
“There are basic rules in the journalism profession that were totally violated by those who published that trash. Who said what, when, where, at what occasion, and how were not answered because it was fake news. We are responding for the simple reason that some gullible members of the society might believe it to be true,” he submitted.
He declared that to the best of knowledge of the government, no judge who participated in the ruling, which restored Uzodimma’s mandate, has ever disowned it, talk less of blaming eye infection for it.
Emelumba said the intermittent circulation of fake news against Uzodimma was being sponsored by those afraid of his national political visibility, which has dwarfed their own local standing.
He said the governor rather than be distracted by such antics would continue to deliver democracy dividends to the people of Imo State as well as discharging his national assignments.
Oguwike Nwachuku
Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the Governor