Oluwaseye Ogunsanya

SUMMARY

A viral news story suggests that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike said if the Federal Government tries to disturb him again, he will declare Rivers State a Biafra state in a press conference.

CONCLUSION

This claim is outrightly false. A check on the State Governor’s Twitter page, @GovWike showed that the governor didn’t make the claim, a check on Google revealed that the governor didn’t grant any press conference nor issue an official statement on the said day the news story was published.

FULL TEXT

Background

Governor Nyesom Wike trends after his televised press conference on May 1st in relation to COVID-19 in the state.

The Governor in the televised Press Conference had claimed that the state is solely battling the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic without tangible material support from the Federal Government.

Claim


News websites quoted Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike to have said that “I will protect River State is my territory If the federal government disturbs me again, I will declare River state A BIAFRA state or Niger Delta State and wait for the consequences.”. It was first published on Osweknews.com, but it has now been deleted. It was published on igbowatch.com and it currently has 4348 views as at the time of this report. The report was critical of the Federal Government.

A Twitter post quoted Governor Wike to have said that if the Federal Government tries to disturb him again, he will declare Rivers Biafra state, this post which was published on April, 24th 2020 resurfaced on May, 1st 2020. It was also published here on Facebook.

VERIFICATION


The Governor did not make such claim, a check on his official Twitter page @GovWike where most of his activities was reported revealed, a thorough check on Google also revealed that no such claim was made by the Governor, as a matter of fact, he didn’t issue any statement on the said day.

Interestingly, the governor had played down the notion or narrative that Rivers state is part of Biafra. In 2017, when he was in Sokoto state on a Sallah visit to the Sultan at his palace, he said, “The government and people of Rivers will not be part of the agitation to break up the country.”

People’s check implores Nigerians not to be too quick to believe and send broadcast messages they receive from any social platform or blog until they are sure of its accuracy.

If you have any information you want to verify, contact our Official WhatsApp account – 0907742045