GOVERNOR David Umahi of Ebonyi State, has stated that anybody found guilty of fake news and hate speeches will be punished under the law in the state.
According to Umahi, the era of people dishing out falsehood in any form to the members of the public was over.
The governor stated this while reacting to the arrest and detention of a popular former Programme Presenter and social critic, Godffery Chikwere by the police in the State.
Chikwere was arrested by the police, following a petition against him by the state government over a post on his social media handle which the government said was against the recently signed law against cybercrime.
The suspect was being treated at the Emergency Unit of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA) where he is undergoing medical attention under tight security.
Umahi who denied having a hand in the arrest of the Public Affairs Analyst, said he must face the law and accused him of inciting the people of the state against the Army through his post on his facebook handle.
The governor said: “I didn’t arrest Baby Mouth, I didn’t arrest him. It is important to note now that we have a law on fake news. Both my journalists and aides should note that fake news coming from anybody is answerable and there is nothing wrong about this development. The federal government has its own cybercrime law and until we deploy this, our society will continue to go bad.
“You don’t just wake up and begin to tarnish people’s image. The young man is from Enugu and they carried out the flag off of army activities in Enugu State and he didn’t comment on it. But when it was flagged off in Ebonyi, he now started to incite Ebonyi people against the army so that the army will now have confrontation with our people.
“It was done in Anambra, it was done in Enugu. Why is that it was done in Ebonyi and somebody from Enugu State who was hired to destroy the state will start commenting? People have been begging for his release but it is not in my hand. He must go to court. They can call me any name, I don’t care”, he said.
