A report in the Punch newspaper listing Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq among some purported absentee Governors is a faux pas, which we deem to be one of those moments in human imperfections.

This is particularly so because the report merely parroted a statement made by an opposition party without any attempt, even by the account of the story, to verify the claim. We do not believe that the Punch newspaper or any credible medium should have fallen for such in this age of fake news and disinformation.

A check of some photographs of activities of the Governor in the last seven days before the misleading report was published would have condemned such a copy to the bin. Apart from the earlier low-key official activities of the Governor in the last one week, the Governor joined the Emir of Ilorin Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari to host the Sultan of Sokoto His Eminence Sa'd Abubakar III in Ilorin, the state capital, last Friday, November 3. The Govemor is currently in Ilorin today, November 8.

This has been the trend of his activities despite his added responsibility as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF), which expectedly require that he joggles his time as he takes on more national roles like the tasks of leading his 36 other colleagues.

Despite his huge schedules, the Governor, for the record, has never at any time travelled outside of Ilorin for two weeks at a stretch between 2019 and now. Never.

We hope that the Punch will henceforth do independent checks of any claims by opposition elements and not adopt the same as its own report without due diligence that it is known for.