On Wednesday, October 11, South Eastern Nigeria was thrown into a bedlam of sorts as a result of information peddled by rumour mongers and propaganda theorists which spread like wildfire across the East and even burned in some parts of the South-South.
It was school hour and suddenly, news went viral that some people in Army uniforms had invaded schools in the region and were injecting pupils with the dreaded Monkey Pox virus for the purpose of ‘depopulating the South-East and South-South’ and without verifying the authenticity of the information, parents thronged to their children’s schools and demanded to take their children home.
In schools where the teachers refused to release children, maintaining that there was no such exercise going on, they were faced with stiff resistance from the parents and the school authorities had to give in to the demands of the parents, in order to avoid causing unnecessary tension or crisis.
Facts:
It is a well-known fact that the Military maintains a culture of planning medical outreaches in specified host communities in order to provide medical check-up and care for members of the communities for free as a way of community service. Also, it is confirmed that the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army with Headquarters in Enugu had planned a medical outreach for Anambra State that Wednesday at Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the State as it had earlier conducted similar exercises in other States in the Zone without hitches.
In fact, the Army’s medical outreach had become a part of its social responsibility and communities selected for it have always been considered lucky, considering the fact that they get primary attention because they are first to arrive at the venue. The Deputy Director of Public Relations of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Sagir Musa, explained that the outreach was part of the on-going exercise, “Python Dance II”.
It is important to note that there were elaborate consultations with the Local Government authority and the traditional institution in the area and approval had been granted. There had been a large number of canopies and seats set for the comfort of the beneficiaries at the venue, St. Michael’s Catholic Church, which is centrally located and close to a market to ensure that many people with various ailments could utilize opportunity to obtain free medical service from the Army. The venue was not in a school compound.
Results of the Fake News
As a result of the rumour which spread like wildfire, many cities and townships in the South East and South-South were thrown into pandemonium as parents began to panic and run around, trying to save their children from the impending disaster. School children on their own part also made attempts to run away from school, thereby endangering their own lives.
Also, this incidence has resulted in distrust of the Army as many of the people actually believe that the Army was indeed responsible for the crisis. The perpetuators of the rumour successfully dented the image of the military before the general public in the South-East.
Intervention of the Anambra Government
Disturbed by the frightening spread of the rumour, the Anambra State Government intervened by urging the Military to suspend the medical exercise for the time being and allow the tension to cool down. The Army’s image maker, Col. Sagir Musa was forced by the situation, to issue a statement of clarification in which he expressed regrets that the goodwill of the military was grossly misconstrued.
This incidence further reveals the danger of fake news and how fast falsified information can spread, hence it is important that fake news platforms be disregarded.
