By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday said federal government is putting strategy in place to evacuate Nigerians who are willing to return home from South Africa.
Briefing the media on government’s plans to resolve the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and foreigners resident in South Africa even as he disputed the video clips on the social media. “
He said: “The three videos showing how Nigerians are being killed comes to mind: One video shows a man who has been set ablaze trying to escape, and those circulating the video identified the man as Nigerian.
“The video shows Mozambican Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave, a victim of xenophobic violence in South Africa in 2008, and it is not that of a Nigerian being attacked in 2019.
“Another video shows those said to be Nigerians jumping down from a multi-storey building that was purportedly set on fire by xenophobic attackers in South Africa.
“This is fake news as the video is that of a Suraj coaching centre in Gujarat State, India, that was gutted by fire on May 24, 2019, leaving about 18 people dead.
“The third video, purportedly showing the bodies of Nigerians who were burnt in xenophobic attacks, is the raw footage of those who were killed in a Tanzanian fuel tanker explosion in Morogoro that left at least 60 dead on Aug. 10 2019.”
He advised Nigerians circulating these videos should immediately desist from doing so.
He said: “Apart from inflaming passion, the videos are also complicating the efforts of the government to calm frayed nerves at home in the wake of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
“Recall, gentlemen, that we alerted Nigerians to the dangers posed by fake news and disinformation when we launched our national campaign against fake news on July 11 2019.
“That campaign is more urgent now than ever, and I implore the media, in particular, to give it a renewed play. Fake news and disinformation represent a clear and present danger to every society.
“We want to appeal to our opinion leaders and celebrities to be guarded in their utterances and comments on the xenophobic attacks and the reactions from Nigerians. Words have meaning, and wrong words are like poisoned darts. In the words of the Buddha, ”Better than a thousand hollowed words, is one word that brings peace.”