I know you might have believed, and even shared it. After all, you were not the originator of the information, someone else did and it probably came from a popular and 'credible' blog.
For now, can you kindly pause sharing while we work through some tips that will help us determine if the former president actually made such a statement or not.
Ok, taking a look at the photo above, you'd notice how poorly written, the headline is.
Quoting the blog:
'There is no coronavirus in Nigeria, The minster of health cooks the story to defraud the Government, I want to see the Italian man, I wan get the virus too - Obasanjo'
In another news which was published on the 8th of April by Exclusive103.com, the former president was accused of saying that the Chinese doctors that entered Nigeria few days ago had the virus with them.
Quoting the blog:
'15 Doctors with real coronavirus in them enter Nigeria, this is when the real death starts, am out of Nigeria - Obasanjo'
No standard media publishes information with poor headlines, because the information normally pass through a series of checks before getting approved.
The information is being spread by a Facebook page, 'I News' with no backing from any reputable media company.
Why is President Olusegun Obasanjo's opinion relevant?
As we all know, President Olusegun Obasanjo was the former president of the federal Republic of Nigeria under the platform of the People's Democratic Party. He is taken by many as a fearless politician, who never lags in airing his opinions in trending issues.He has been accused several by Nigerians over similar national issues, especially when it involves tackling the ruling government.
In February 2020, he was accused of saying that the United States president, Donald Trump knew that Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s current president, was in fact dead. The information was posted on Nigerian website, Daily Excessive and shared multiple times on Facebook.
In another news which made headlines on July 2019, Naija Live TV reported that Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the immediate arrest of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
While PunchNG.com earlier reported the information, the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, refuted the claim and said the government had no such plan. We won't however call this a fake news, the former president actually made the claims.
But did Obasanjo Really say anything about the Coronavirus Pandemic?
While the former president didn't accuse the minister of health of lying over the coronavirus pandemic, he however lamented on how the issue affected his 83rd birthday celebration.He made the statement while speaking at his birthday lecture in Abeokuta, Ogun State, titled, “The place of Pan-Africanism in an Emerging World of Besieged Liberal Democracy”. You can read the full news on Today.NG.
In another news which was published on VanguardNGR.com, about 165 global leaders, including former United Kingdom, UK, Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and ex-Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo are mobilising about $600 billion from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, to support developing countries in the fight against coronavirus.
What of the PDP?
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was alarmed that President Buhari ignored the protests by Nigerians and professional bodies including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and allowed the importation of the Chinese doctors despite warnings that bringing in doctors from the hotbed of the plague would expose citizens to further risks.We all know how desperate the People's Democratic Party (PDP) is take over the seat in 2023. While I'm not a supporter of any political party, I don't really like the fact that a party will be trying to politicalize the whole issue.
Nigeria, and the rest of the world is in great fear, and the best thing to do isn't trying to make the citizens raise questions on the real intentions of the 'imported' doctors.
In a period like this, let's all be guided against misinformation of all kinds. The best places to get information are not the WhatsApp and Facebook groups, always find out the source of an information before hitting the share button.
Nigeria will rise again!
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