BY VICTOR NWEGEDE
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Wednesday in Abakaliki said that his administration can no longer allow peddlers of fake news to go unpunished as the state assented to its cybercrime law.
Umahi said, the defaulters of the law must face its wrath and insisted that spreading falsehood was no longer allowed in the state.
He was speaking at the heels of the arrest and detention of a former Programme Presenter in Ebonyi State Broadcasting Corporation (EBBC), Mr Godffery Chikwere by the Police.
Mr Godffrey Chikwere, a former Media Aide to Governor Umahi was arrested by the Police following a petition against him by the state government over a post on his social media page, reportedly against the state cybercrime law.
“I didn’t arrest Baby mouth, I didn’t arrest him. It is important to note now that we have a law on fake news. Both my journalists and aides should note that fake news coming from anybody is answerable and there is nothing wrong about this development. The federal government has its own, cybercrime law; and until we deploy this, our society will continue to go bad.
“You don’t just wake up and begin to tarnish people’s image. The young man is from Enugu and they carried out the flag off of Army activities in Enugu state (referring to operation Golden Dawn, Enduring Peace and Still Water) and he didn’t comment on it. But when it was flagged off in Ebonyi, he now started to incite Ebonyi people against the Army so that the Army will now have confrontation with our people.
“It was done in Anambra, it was done in Enugu. Why is that it was done in Ebonyi and somebody from Enugu State who was hired to destroy the state will start commenting? People have been begging for his release but it is not in my hand, he must go to court. They can call me any name, I don’t care,” Umahi said.
