Chocolate City co-founder, Audu Maikori, was recently arrested by police over a series of tweets he sent to his followers, alleging that some 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 he 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 and would help rein in the scourge of fake news.
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 loss 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.
“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.”
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