Senator Shehu Buba has recommended safety businesses for the arrest of the people behind a coordinated defamatory marketing campaign that focused him and others.
Buba, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Nationwide Safety and Intelligence, urged Nigerians to stay peaceable, confirm info earlier than sharing, and concentrate on points affecting society.
“I’ve at all times stood for peace and the welfare of our folks. I deny these baseless allegations and can proceed to work in favour of Bauchi South,” the lawmaker assured.
Safety brokers lately apprehended some social media influencers allegedly behind a smear marketing campaign in opposition to political workplace holders, together with Senator Buba.
The arrests adopted an intensive investigation involving the monitoring of social media posts and accounts linked to the unfold of manipulated content material and hate speech.
Buba, specifically, was accused of hyperlinks with banditry. Regardless of his repeated denials, the attackers continued to malign him throughout numerous platforms earlier than the authorities intervened.
The perpetrators used doctored video clips to provide and distribute pretend information geared toward damaging the lawmaker’s popularity each within the legislature and forward of the 2027 basic elections.
Following their arrest in northern states, a few of the influencers admitted to being misled by individuals they’d trusted. These granted bail have issued apologies by way of movies and written statements on their social media pages.
In a video, one of many influencers, Nasiru Ontop, mentioned: “We made a grave mistake by trusting Kibanna, somebody we barely knew. His paperwork have been pretend. It wasn’t till our arrest that we started to query his authenticity.
“His TikTok account has now been deleted. We acted on misinformation and cast paperwork, and for that, we apologise to Senator Shehu Umar Buba and everybody affected,” he added.
Abdulrashid Abdullahi Kano, who operated beneath a Fb web page ‘Vanguard Hausa,’ additionally issued an announcement: “We have now confirmed that the video accusing Senator Shehu Buba Umar is fake and malicious.
“It was fabricated by enemies of peace to tarnish his picture. Senator Buba has constantly promoted peace and reconciliation, working with clerics and group leaders to resolve conflicts in Bauchi South.”
