Fake News: Onoh demands apology from media groups over story on Tinubu
South East Spokesman of the Bola Tinubu Campaign Council, Dr. Josef Onoh demanded for an apology and a retraction of news items broadcast by some media platforms over the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaji Tinubu.
He has also threatened to drag the media organizations to court if they fail to apologize for their broadcast of unsubstantiated news about Tinubu.
The media organizations had, on Saturday, broadcast that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was investigating Tinubu on a purported forfeiture to the United State of America which the electoral umpire denied carrying out any such inquiry.
Reacting to the media reports, Onoh said that the broadcast outfits embarked on the premeditated assassination of Tinubu’s character but ended up damaging their own integrity and exposing their political bias on the 2023 general elections.
Onoh said that he was shocked that such outfits that were previously presumed to be credible could display such subjective disdain on Tinubu and went ahead to make bare their unprofessionalism in the media industry.
“It is for this kind of mischief that the federal government is emphasizing media regulations which the media itself interpret as a gag on information dissemination, but this is an outright mischief that was obviously preconceived.
“They have exposed their hypocrisy, their unprofessionalism, that is not just about an embarrassment on Asiwaju but to the entire nation because it has shown that the content of these organizations can always be thwarted. It has shown their vulnerability and partisanship in the dissemination of fake news. It shows that they have taken political positions and it’s a great shame but at the end of the day we will see them in court.”
Onoh said he was surprised that the media organizations could carry out such stories without a confirmation from INEC if it was actually investigating any of the presidential candidates, noting that it was unfortunate that the media organizations could engage in such fake news that he said breeds unrest and rancour within the country.
“This is a blunder and we request for immediate retraction and apology to Asiwaju and to the campaign council because they have caused us international embarrassment, which might warrant legal actions against them and the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should take note of this outright bias. We are stunned that a TV station could become an arm of a political party and now takes sides and we demand an apology for that.
