Why FG alone can’t win war against fake news – El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State says federal government requires the support of state governments to effectively prosecute the proliferation of fake news and hate speech.

He has called for a total overhaul of the extant laws to enable state governments thoroughly prosecute the offenders.

The Governor made the remarks in Kaduna when he received the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on a courtesy visit, on the sidelines of the ongoing 47th National Council on Information, with the theme “Tackling Fake News and Hate Speech to Enhance Peace and National Unity.

He said because of the challenges posed by fake news and hate speech, state governments and state high courts need to be given jurisdiction to try these cases because federal government cannot do it alone.

‘‘What we need is to give state governments and state high court’s jurisdiction to try these cases because the federal government cannot do it alone. What we are thinking in Kaduna state is to enact our own legislation against fake news and hate speech.

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‘‘Right now, we have enough in the Penal Code to try people that do that but we need a stronger framework that will recognise technologies and processes that are used now for more than ever. It is a big problem, particularly in a state like Kaduna where everything, even if you invite 10 people to a launching it acquires ethnic or religious coloration.

‘‘I commend the Council for taking up this serious matter. I strongly recommend that not only the federal government and its agencies should be at the forefront of this war against fake news and hate speech but I think the state governments and state courts should be given broader jurisdiction to respond to this.

‘‘We know the dangers of this kinds of careless statements and what is most unfortunate is that the guiltiest people are people that are assumed to be more responsible, the pastors, Imams and important people in the society.

‘‘It is not only the President that was said to be cloned, I was also summoned from Mali, that someone went to Madiki in place Bamako Mali to change my birth place, the day El-Rufai died when he went on exile on 2009.

‘‘We have a serious problem. Those who are running away from the need to have legislative framework to deal with this subject are putting this country in danger because it is not weapons that kills, it is words that kill. 800,000 people in Rwanda were killed in two weeks because of radio and if we continue to play with this, one day this country will go up in flames.’’

The Governor who attributed the recent crisis in the State to fake news said the launching of the campaign against fake news and hate speech by federal government was quite commendable and should be sustained.