Chrys
The European Union Election Observation Mission has listed a
former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo and a
chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode, for
propagating fake news during the 2023 general election in Nigeria.
EU accused Keyamo and Fani-Kayode of misleading Nigerians by
spreading fake news during the 2023 general elections.
In its latest report, the EU Observers cited instances where
both APC chieftains propagated fake news while campaigning for their
candidates.
The report reads partly: “There was an increased incidence
of misleading information in the days leading up to and during the election. In
many cases, false reports were spread by well-known personalities associated
with political parties.
“On February 12, Festus Keyamo from APC promoted information
published by a suspicious website, accusing Peter Obi of bribery. The story
quickly became viral and was in a few hours debunked.
“Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation and an APC
party member, made a claim on February 11, 2023, that the PDP presidential
candidate Abubakar had a secret meeting with serving military generals in
Abuja.
“He accused Atiku of wanting to incite chaos, provoke a coup
d’état, and establish a new and unconstitutional order. Kayode posted this
claim across multiple social media platforms, and it garnered 281.2k total
impressions. The next day, he posted that the Army denied reports about a
meeting between its officers and Atiku.”
