The Presidency has voiced out that in the age of digital world, disinformation warfare against government is massive, and misinformation takes hold despite the media aides of the govt proactively dishing the right information beforehand.
Special Adviser to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun who disclosed this on social media platform Monday called on those supporting the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to participate in the warfare and ensure that the true narrative prevails at all times.
His message titled: Government Media Aides and Information Warfare”, the Special Adviser said due to the very free media space and the large ecosystem the social media provides in Nigeria, disinformation battlefield is very wide with many players are actively seeking every possible means to undermine the government.
Adding that fake news or disinformation is the cheapest tool available to this people, and it takes minutes to circulate. “We need to understand that the opposition, made up of at least three branches, still in election mode, and their notion is basically peddling fake news or propagating false narratives.
“All it takes for a false narrative to trend, is just to post a captivating anti-government headline that will attract the members of the opposition. They lash onto it and further twist the fake news to generate more outrage even when they know it’s false.
“Sometimes, this misinformation takes hold despite the media aides of the government proactively dishing the right information beforehand. But mischievous people who are still bitter about their electoral defeat choose what they want to believe”, the President’s aide claimed.
Dada Olusegun said, “This is where we need to appeal to supporters of the President to understand that this is a joint effort that requires those who believe in Mr President to participate in the warfare and ensure that the true narrative prevails at all times”.
Citing an example, the President’s aide spoke on the Samoa Agreement, disclosing that 30 African countries signed the deal including deeply religious states like Egypt but recalled that only in Nigeria that some media houses (induced by opposition politicians) decided to misinterpret and actively misinform the people to further their agenda.
“In this case, every patriotic Nigerian is required to help the media aides push back, and on this Samoa issue, I can proudly say we achieved that”, while vowed that media aides of the President and that of the govt generally, will continue to innovate, evolve to try and stay ahead of the tactics of agents that seek to sow only discord and incitement through fake news”.
The media aides would not be everywhere. There will also be improvements in the area of getting government agencies to release necessary information about their activities and policies to government media aides so that they can be communicated to the people as quickly as possible.
“This will reduce the window for conjectures by fake news merchants who always find willing partners in some rogue media platforms and social media influencers. This is a warfare that requires a lot of volunteers.
“It’s a marathon, and we must all partake in that if we believe in Mr. President and his government. Volunteering to help spread the truth doesn’t mean you can’t criticise the government. These are two different jobs and can go on simultaneously”.
Tinubu’s aide pointed out that there is a well-oiled media campaign by the Atiku Abubakar’s supporters to instigate a media war between northerners and southerners, adding that these supporters present themselves as spokespersons of the North and make generalising statements not rooted in facts but bigotry.
He urged supporters of the President, especially in the South to be wary of these people and resist the bait to mistake them for the North and launch verbal missiles against the entire North. “This is what they expect to achieve, but patriotic Nigerians should see their antics, treat them squarely as Atiku Abubakar foot soldiers out to heat up the polity”, he said.