COSOM launches musical album against fake news

Comrade Society Music and Entertainment (COSOM) has launched a musical album titled ‘Ta Lesu’, meaning ‘Who is the Enemy,’ to campaign against fake news and its negative impact on nation-building and peaceful coexistence.

Founder of COSOM, Comrade Babatunde Ashafa, at the press conference, in Lagos yesterday, said fake news is the new phase of epidemic in Nigeria that is negatively affecting the peaceful co-existence of citizens in the country.

He noted that fake news is a threat to the stability of Nigeria’s democracy, economic growth, military operations and patriotism of citizens and leaders.

According to Ashafa, the aim of the campaign is to make the war against fake news a duty of every citizen and to promote a culture of citizens’ observance of their obligations and responsibilities to the country through reduction of fake news.

He said: “We believe that through musical advocacy, there will be socialisation, national integration and development and this will strengthen the fight against fake news and promote good leadership and citizens’ observance of their obligation and responsibility to the state, their communities, neighbourhood, organisations, families and all segments of the society.

“For a stronger impact, the album launch has been planned to go round the 36 states of the federation by staging live shows where copies of the album will be distributed freely to the general public.

“Our demands are fake news pushers, sponsors, promoters and agents, especially unscrupulous bloggers, should desist from this criminal and unpatriotic act. Media organisations, government and relevant bodies should step up the campaign against fake news and fake news sponsors to guarantee sanity in the system.”

Chris Onwusa, a member of COSOM, said that he is a victim of fake news and would never imagine anyone being a victim.

Onwusa urged members of the public to come together and tackle the menace of fake news, adding that it was a collective responsibility toward achieving a peaceful society.

“COSOM has being a helpful platform which has given me the opportunity to be part of a project  fighting fake news,” he said.