Date: 2018-08-19

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that he will not be contesting in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Kwara State because of the position he is currently holding as the leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.

Alhaji Lai said it wouldn't be wise of him to contest with the people he should to be conducting. The minister stated this on a life programme on NTA, Ilorin, on Saturday.

He said he is the senior surviving member of the party in the APC government from Kwara State and "as a result of the Tsunami that took place and unfortunately, Kwara State happened to be the epicentre of that rebellion, I am not contesting election in Kwara State. If I want to be the honest broker, I must be above board, I must not be seen contesting with those I want to lead, or those that look up to me. I can't be fighting for the same thing they are looking for".

The minister further expressed worry about the effect of fake news and hate speech spreading across the country, stressing they remain a great threat to the next elections.

"The greatest danger of 2019 general elections will be fake news and hate speech. Also the greatest threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria will be fake news, Our concern is that the purveyors of fake news have taken advantage of technology to spread fake news. We must make it clear that in our fight against fake news, we will not resort to censorship, even though, it is happening in some parts of the world", he said.

He therefore urged people to subject every story to some tests including authenticity of the source. He also called on the media to partner with government, adding, "we are thinking of having a workshop on fake news. At the end of the day, even the media may be the worst hit of fake news."