At the celebration of Professor Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday in Lagos on Saturday, the former minister recounted his experience and spoke about “The Media in the Age of Disinformation.”
Mohammed discussed one of the major issues he faced as a minister: the widespread dissemination of false information. Mohammed continued to highlight he wide-ranging effects of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation by emphasizing how they almost brought his marriage to an end.
He said, “Permit me to share publicly with you today for the first time, how social media threatened the foundation of my 40-year-old marriage.
A“It was sometimes in 2018 when I came to Lagos from Abuja for an official assignment.
“As usual, I retire to bed about midnight, but about 3 a.m., my wife gently roused me from my slumber.
“At first, I panicked, fearing that there had been a security breach, but my wife’s mien belied that possibility, for she was calm and composed.”
He continued: “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 months.”
Mohammed said the accusation from his wife was “a bombshell” and was narrated to him in Yoruba language.
He presented the narration 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.”
The ex-minister expressed disbelief that his wife fully believed the false story circulating about government officials, including himself, supposedly having large sums of money in overseas accounts during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“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.
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“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.
Mohammed 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!”
Mohammed reaffirmed that terrorists, bandits, anarchists, secessionists, anti-state organizations, and those who spread false information continue to favor social media.
Mohammed recalled that while he was in government, his ministry had discovered 476 websites that were devoted exclusively to spreading false information against President Buhari’s previous administration.
Mohammed distinctly recalled the false information that the outgoing president had been replaced by a clone called “Jubril from Sudan” after passing away while receiving medical attention in a London hospital.
Mohammed claims that the issue of fake news continued into the general election campaigns of 2023, when President Bola Tinubu was singled out for criticism. False information was disseminated through the manipulation and distortion of videos and speeches ascribed to him.
He said that individuals disseminating false information persisted in their attempts to discredit Tinubu’s administration’s excellent policies and initiatives.
Mohammed emphasized how the use of artificial intelligence and deep learning techniques has led to a significant increase in fake news by making it possible to create extremely realistic fake or manipulated videos, audio, and images.
“The consequences of disinformation and misinformation are far-reaching.
“They undermine democratic processes, sow discord within communities, and pose significant threats to public health and safety.
“Today, even the media is at risk of losing its credibility because of the proliferation of fake news on Social Media
“Therefore, the media, as custodians of the public trust, must take decisive action to combat the scourge of disinformation and misinformation,” he said
Mohammed argued that intermediaries such as social media platforms should take responsibility for spreading false and misleading information. He pushed for the establishment of strong legal frameworks that would protect free speech while keeping an eye on and halting the dissemination of misleading information.
He pleaded with social media companies to put information integrity ahead of financial gain. Mohammed stressed the significance of being proactive in identifying and eliminating hazardous content from their platforms.
