The former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has revealed how fake news on social media threatened his 40-year marriage.
He disclosed this during an event in Lagos held to commemorate the 90th birthday of a Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka.
Lai Mohammed highlighted the challenges he encountered during his tenure as minister, particularly the proliferation of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.
The former Minister shared a personal experience illustrating how these issues nearly disrupted his marriage.
He said, “Permit me to share publicly with you today for the first time, how social media threatened the foundation of my forty-year-old marriage.
“It was sometimes in 2018 when I came to Lagos from Abuja for an official assignment. As usual, I retire to bed about midnight, but about 3 am, my wife gently roused me from my slumber.
“At first, I panicked, fearing that there had been a security breach, but my wife’s mien belied that possibility, for she was calm and composed.
“Solemnly, my wife asked me if I was fully awake as there were some serious issues to discuss.
“I could not fathom what was that urgent or serious to warrant being woken up at this time of the night.
“My mind immediately did a kaleidoscope of my rascalities and escapades in the last few months.”
The former minister said the accusation from his wife was “a bombshell”.
“Daddy, death can come knocking at any moment, please let me also, as your wife, be a signatory to your oversea account in Ali Financial which contains 1.3 billion dollars,” his wife reportedly said.
The former minister said he could not believe that his wife could believe the fake story in circulation crediting huge sums of money in overseas accounts to government functionaries/ministers under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Mohammed said he spent hours trying to convince his wife of its falsehood, even resorting to presenting budget documents to demonstrate the implausibility of such claims.
Despite his efforts, his wife remained unconvinced, as the misinformation had already gone viral on social media, tarnishing her reputation among friends who believed the allegations.
“I spent the next two hours or so, sweating to convince my wife that there is no iota of truth in the allegation,” he added.
“I had to fetch a calculator and reproduce the federal appropriation act for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the middle of the night and explain to her why it is simply preposterous for me to have 1.3 billion dollars in a foreign account.
“I explained to her that there is no year my capital budget exceeded N5 billion, which then, at about N400 to a dollar, was just 12.5 million dollars.
“I explained that, even if I managed to divert every kobo of it to my personal account, it will take at least, 104 years to save the sum of 1.3 billion dollars being peddled that I stole.
“My wife insisted that the whole world believed the story and that her friends had as a result, besieged her with all kinds of requests.
“She said every effort on her part to deny the existence of this foreign account only succeeded in depicting her in the minds of her friends as a selfish, greedy and uncaring friend.
“Is my wife truly convinced of my innocence? The answer is in the wind!”
Mohammed lamented the damaging impact of fake news on personal relationships and public trust.
He emphasized the broader societal implications of disinformation, highlighting its role in undermining democratic processes, fostering discord, and jeopardizing public safety.
Mohammed noted that while in government, his ministry uncovered 476 online publications that were dedicated to spreading fake news against the previous administration.
The former minister pointed out the increasing sophistication of fake news, aided by technologies like Artificial Intelligence, which generate convincing but false content.
“The consequences of disinformation and misinformation are far-reaching,” he said.
“They undermine democratic processes, sow discord within communities, and pose significant threats to public health and safety.
“Today, even the media is at the risk of losing its credibility because of the proliferation of fake news on the social media.
“Therefore, the media, as custodians of the public trust, must take decisive action to combat the scourge of disinformation and misinformation.”
Recognizing the vital role of the media in combating misinformation, Mohammed called for robust regulatory measures to curb the spread of false information while upholding freedom of expression.
He reiterated his previous arguments for regulating social media to prevent its unchecked proliferation of fake news, citing the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria in June 2021 as a response to the platform’s alleged role in threatening national stability.
KanyiDaily recalls that Lai Mohammed had stressed the need to have a policy that regulates social media, warning that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder if the issue of fake news is not urgently addressed.
