By Uche Amunike
The Rivers state government has debunked the viral news trending on social media platforms that the son of Governor Nyesom Wike has been shot dead in the United States of America as a result of his father actions in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria.
Speaking, in reaction to the trending post on social media, the Rivers state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Chris Finebone, stated that the news was false and should be disregarded.
In the post, which was captioned: ‘Breaking News: Wike’s Only Son Shot Dead in California, US over Father’s Act in Rivers Election’, was a picture of Governor Nyesom Wike’s son, wearing a convocation gown at his graduation in a university at the United Kingdom in 2022, flanked by his parents and his sister as they posed for the camera.
Speaking, through a statement signed by Finebone and released to Newsmen, with the title ‘Yet Again, Another Lie’, Wednesday in Port Harcourt, he stated that Governor Nyesom Wike did not have a son, or any child at all in the United States.
He described the fake post as the mischief compounded by people who were determined to blackmail and tarnish the image of the governor. He called on members of the general public to ignore it as it was based on falsehood.
Part of the statement read: ‘This is a big lie by evil people. For the avoidance of doubt, Gov. Nyesom Wike has no son or child in the US. By the special grace of God, the governor’s children are safe and doing well where they are.’
‘This satanic rumour is yet another concoction by wicked people in their insidious quest to blackmail and tarnish the image of Gov. Wike. There is absolutely no truth in this cheap blackmail.’
‘The public should disregard and throw it into the trash can where it belongs.’
The Information and Communications Commissioner further recalled the events of years back when the Rivers state government had to debunk a similar piece of falsehood which, according to him, was ‘concocted’ by a news tabloid during the re-run election held in 2016, concerning an alleged discussion between Governor Nyesom Wike and ‘Hon. Dum Deko.’
Hear him: ‘But in a hurry to throw dirt at the governor this time, some people decided to exhume and use the same old discredited clip to justify their evil machination of sullying the image of the governor.’
Mr Finebone reiterated that after Governor Nyesom Wike and his wife cast their votes on Saturday at their polling unit, they quietly headed home and never left the house for the rest of the day.
His words: ‘It was, therefore, surprising that the same individuals who, for reasons best known to them, decided to lie against the governor, have gone ahead to raise false accusations suggesting that Governor Wike moved about with soldiers intimidating people and influencing voting and collation of votes. Mr Finebone said Governor Wike does not have a soldier in his entourage, as claimed.’
He called on the public to disregard any of such video and audio clips or all sorts of multimedia contraptions made to go viral, just to tarnish the image of Governor Nyesom Wike.
