Vice-presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima, says a series of fake stories on social media against him are coordinated and sponsored by top Nigerian politicians.
The former Borno State governor, who spoke on Sunday in Abuja, during a reception in his honour by the Borno Indigenes Forum, described social media as the place where “truth goes to die” in the country.
According to the vice-presidential candidate, the truth is being murdered in Nigeria; he lamented that some citizens are suffocating the truth on social media platforms by spreading a variety of false information. He said such social media spaces playing a host of fake stories have served as convenient platforms, adding that, “I would’ve veered off to a place of hate if I had allowed the bigotries I encountered to define me”.
“Even as a two-time governor, and now, senator, I’m just as vulnerable to bigotry as every Nigerian. If you intend to see where the truth goes to die in Nigeria, then don’t look too far away from the electronic exchanges on social media. Most of the falsehoods dispensed are, unfortunately, carefully-coordinated attacks by agents of those running for the highest office in the country”, Shettima stated.
Shettima said he feels emotional whenever pictures of his engagements with locals are shared on social media with another narrative different from the truth.
According to him, “The darkest irony in our politics today is the sponsorship of hate campaigns by front-line political candidates against an opposing group in the very country they are asking to govern. We would’ve been long overrun if we had paid mind to any politician who invests in divisions, the ones who’ve seen and experienced the devastation of violence firsthand”.
“I expect you to be the voice of reason in teaching conflict profiteers in our midst about the enduring bond we share”, he further stated.
