By Yusuf Olukokun
The Federal Government of Nigeria has condemned the sensational reportage by Daily Trust, warned that using headlines as clicked baits may jeopardize the security architecture of the country.
This disclosure was put to the public by Muhammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, at the National Press Center on Saturday, July 6, 2024.
In his press briefing, he equally maintained that the present administration has always had an open arm relationship with the media, due to democratic view of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the present administration had been looking away from the reckless reporting style of media houses, but the inciting publications from Daily Trust in the past months were meant to dent image of the administration.
In the instances he gave, he stated, “In the aftermath of the coup in Niger Republic, Daily Trust championed a jaundiced narrative that the Federal Government was driving the country into a war and twisted it with regional sentiment to cause disaffection. The same newspaper gave a banner headline to a baseless accusation that the Government was working on citing foreign military bases in the country. Neither Daily Trust nor originators of that imaginative allegation provided any shred of evidence.”
He said further that, Daily Trust had always depended on hearsays and falsehood, because weeks ago; the media house also published a concocted lie about renaming a Muritala Muhammad Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way.
“Then just two weeks ago, Daily Trust concocted and popularised a lie that the Federal Government had renamed the Murtala Mohammed Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way. In all those instances all that the paper depended on were falsehood and hearsays. They also showed no remorse or the humility to recant”, he stated.
Muhammed assertively claimed that Federal Government never knew Daily Trust and the people behind it, could descend so low in attempting to throw the country into comatose, by accusing the government of signing a deal to promote homosexual marriages also known as LGBTQ.
The Minister pointed to what the sensational reportage had caused, saying: “The baseless and sensational story unfortunately formed a basis for khutba (sermons) by some of our respected imams who were misled by the story thereby raising tempers.”
Mohammed Idris assured the members of the public that the Federal Government would seek redress in the court of law in order to show Daily Trust the errors they had committed.
“In addition, the Federal Government will use every lawful means to seek redress in the court of law.
“The Federal Government once again restates its friendly policy towards ethical media and free speech. We would however not take fake news and disinformation that would injure the peace of our country and it’s national security lightly.”
