Former Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has narrated how fake news circulated on social media nearly destroyed his 40-year-old marriage.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mohammed spoke at an event commemorating Prof. Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday in Lagos.
Mohammed recalled battling the rampant spread of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation during his time as minister.
The ex-minister, who spoke on the topic, “The Media in the Age of Disinformation,” condemn fake news and warned of its dire consequences.
“Solemnly, my wife asked me if I was fully awake as there were some serious issues to discuss.
“I could not fathom what was that urgent or serious to warrant being woken up at this time of the night.
“My mind immediately did a kaleidoscope of my rascalities and escapades in the last few month,” Mohammed said.
The ex-minister said his wife dropped a “bombshell” which she narrated to him in Yoruba language.
He said a narration of the bombshell was as follows: “Daddy, death can come knocking at any moment, please let me also, as your wife, be a signatory to your overseas account in Ali Financial which contains 1.3 billion dollars.”
Mohammed said his wife fully believed the fake news that officials in President Muhammadu Buhari administration, including himself, held stupendous sums of money in foreign bank accounts.
“I spent the next two hours or so, sweating to convince my wife that there is no iota of truth in the allegation.
“I had to fetch a calculator and reproduce the Federal Appropriation Act for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the middle of the night and explain to her why it is simply preposterous for me to have 1.3 billion dollars in a foreign account.
“I explained to her that there is no year my capital budget exceeded N5 billion, which then, at about N400 to a dollar, was just 12.5 million dollars.
“I explained that, even if I managed to divert every kobo of it to my personal account, it will take at least, 104 years to save the sum of 1.3 billion dollars being peddled that I stole,” he said.
He added, “My wife insisted that the whole world believed the story and that her friends had, as a result, besieged her with all kinds of requests.
“She said every effort on her part to deny the existence of this foreign account only succeeded in depicting her in the minds of her friends as a selfish, greedy and uncaring friend.
“Is my wife truly convinced of my innocence? The answer is in the wind!”