Chocolate City co-founder Audu Maikori was recently
arrested by the police over a series of tweets he sent to his followers
alleging that students of the Kaduna State College of Education had been killed
by Fulani Herdsmen in Southern Kaduna.
He is currently out on bail but Kaduna State Governor
Nasir El-Rufai, speaking at the on-going Social Media Week 2017 on Thursday,
said the music mogul will face the full brunt of the law for publishing “fake
stories and pictures”.
“We are going to prosecute him. He was arrested. His
statement has been taken. He is on bail. He is going to be prosecuted. His fate
will be decided by a judge,” El-Rufai said.
While insisting that he had no personal grouse against
Audu, the governor noted that prosecuting him would serve as a deterrent to
people who spread untrue information on social media.
He said, “It is not personal. I have nothing against
him.In fact, he has worked with the state government in the past. But I’m not
going to sit as the governor of Kaduna State and allow anyone to post or tweet
anything that leads to lost of lives without consequences.”
Audu, El-Rufai said, was informed about the untrue nature
of his posts but still doubled down on them.
“He posted fake pictures of Boko Haram attacks, Rwandan
genocide as Southern Kaduna killings. It is totally irresponsible to do that.
“Even when it was pointed out to him that the information
was untrue, he still posted that he stood by his story. He questioned the
authenticity of the press statement. He was totally and completely
irresponsible.
The music mogul and lawyer was arrested on February 17 by
policemen attached to the inspector-general’s monitoring and intelligence team
over ‘inciting comments’ he made on social media on Southern Kaduna killings.
In a series of tweets on January 23, he alleged that five
students of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kafanchan, were
murdered by Fulani herdsmen.
“My driver’s younger brother and five others students of
college of education Gidan Waya were ambushed and killed by herdsmen yesterday
#SouthernKaduna,” he said in one of the tweets.
But the school’s management denied that any of its
students was killed. Kaduna State also condemned the misinformation and vowed
to prosecute rumour peddlers.
Before his arrest, however, Maikori apologised for the
wrong information contained in his tweets, claiming that he was misled by his
driver, who himself was an indigene of Southern Kaduna. The driver, he said,
was handed over to the police after he (Maikori) decided to further investigate
the story to “ensure that all the facts of the case and evidence were presented
to the authorities.”
“I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the
Management of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor
of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State Government, and also to the people of
Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community and also VANGUARD newspapers whose
source was my driver for the false statement by my driver which I also
publicized believing same to be true,” Maikori said in a statement on February
5.
“This action is made even more imperative because I
understand that as a leader in my community, my statements are taken seriously
and shapes the narrative. But nothing is more important in leadership than
owning up to mistakes honestly and with integrity regardless of the
repercussions or circumstances.”
Southern Kaduna, recently for a few weeks, was a scene of
bloody conflicts between suspected Fulani herdsmen and indigenes of the area
with scores of the residents killed. The conflicts forced the state government
to impose a 24-hour curfew on Zangon Kataf which was only relaxed on February 4
to “6 pm and 6 am”.
Hi. I’m Sana ur Rehman Designer of This Blog. I’m CEO/Founder of Pak Zest. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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