By Adesina Soyooye
The Imo State Government has denied the allegations making the rounds on some platforms that the State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has concluded plans to re-name the Imo State University, IMSU, after the late Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari.
The foundation to the allegation was laid when a corrupted version of the statement made by the Governor to mourn Kyari’s death made the rounds. Somebody had, mischievously, inserted a paragraph to the effect that Uzodinma said he would immortalise Kyari for making him Governor.
The Supreme Court had removed the Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as the Governor and replaced him with Uzodinma in January.
On Monday, the allegation grew by the minute to the effect that Uzodinma had decided to re-name IMSU to Abba Kyari University, Imo. The story was received with disbelief and numbness by Imo people. Anger began to gradually build up. And tension reigned. Why Imo? the people asked.
But Monday evening, the state government punctured the story, and dismissed it as irresponsible, the height of mischief, and a lie from the pit of hell. In a strongly worded rebuttal, signed by the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor, Oguwuike Nwachukwu, the Government said the corrupted “condolence letter” was written in a forged letter-headed paper, and the name of the Governor’s Spokesperson thrown in. How could any right- minded person attribute such statement to the Governor?, the statement asked.
It said it was shocked that anybody could descend as low as playing politics with the dead in such a disgusting manner. The statement threatened Legal action as a deterrent to such lies, blaming the opposition, and insisting it knows where the lies came from.
Following, excerpts from the Government’s statement.
“The attention of the Office of the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor has been drawn to fake news circulating on the social media, purporting that Governor Hope Uzodimma wants to rename Imo State University, Owerri, after the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
“The author(s) of the fake news had not only credited to the governor what he could not have said, but they criminally wrote the name of his Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser, Mr. Oguwike Nwachuku as the one who signed the purported statement.
“Since last weekend that Kyari passed on, the same persons have been issuing press statements, forging the logo of government and the name of Mr. Nwachuku with the intent to deceive Imolites, in particular, and the public in general, into believing their propaganda and fake news to be real.
“Ordinarily, the blackmail through the two fake statements they credited to the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor should have been ignored, knowing that no right thinking person will believe them.
“In one of such fake statements they issued and also circulated on social media, they mischievously credited Governor Uzodimma to have said he would immortalise Kyari for “making him Governor.”
“How would any person believe the complete thrash that Governor Uzodimma will, in a condolence letter, say that the late Chief of Staff to the President made him governor of Imo State?
“Such a senseless and irresponsible blackmail! Not done, they went further to credit yet another fallacy to the CPS/Media Adviser that Governor Uzodimma will rename Imo State University after the late Kyari.
“It was their desperation to deepen the propaganda and criminal intents that drove them to the latest fake news of purported renaming of Imo State University after Kyari, something that only exists in the imagination of their tiny brain’s imagination.
“These heartless and infantile fabrications do not ordinarily deserve the dignity of a refutal by the respected Office of the CPS/Media Adviser.
“But the circumstances are not ordinary because it is about playing politics with the dead. It is sad to admit that anybody could lose every sense of decency and fall to the beastly level of denigrating the memory of the dead.
“One is not shocked, therefore, to notice that even in their desperation, they could go so low to commit the sacrilege of dragging the name of a late distinguished statesman into gutter politics. This act of madness is both ridiculous and reckless beyond our imagination.
“We are not surprised at the level the propagandists of these fake news and their surrogates have descended, but concerned about how some people will elect to deliberately deceive the public with information they know is outright false and misleading.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let it be known that the two statements in reference were not issued by the office of the CPS/Media Adviser. They were fabricated and issued and wickedly credited them to his office. We know exactly the person behind this, and appropriate legal steps have been initiated to bring him to book.
“No doubt, we would have loved to ignore these agents of distraction and fake news, but for the fact that we owe Imo people and the public the right to factual information on the activities of a responsible government like ours.
“That is why we enjoin the public, including Imolites, to ignore all the fake news being churned out around the death of Kyari by criminally-minded agents and to also bear in mind that their appetite for wrong causes may not be easy to quench in one fell swoop.
“We also advise the reading public to take fake news seriously and make conscious efforts to identify the promoters and ensure that they join others who stand against fake news globally to make their trade unattractive.”
