The Federal Government says DJ Switch (real name, Obianuju Catherine Udeh) is “a fraud and a front for divisive and destructive forces’’ that will be exposed in the fullness of time.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in Abuja on Thursday while speaking on the roles the Nigerian disk jockey played on the alleged Lekki tollgate “massacre’’ of Oct. 21.
The minister who was addressing the media on the #EndSARS protest and its aftermath said DJ Switch was one of the purveyors of fake news and disinformation during and after the #EndSARS protest.
He said: “even when she claimed to have authentic evidence of mass killings, surprisingly, instead of presenting whatever evidence she may have to the judicial panel of inquiry into the protest, she chose to escape from the country under the pretext that her life was in danger.
“I ask: in danger from whom? The military has come out to say they never sought after her.
“To the best of our knowledge, the police never declared her wanted.
“Her conduct thus becomes suspect. Who is she fronting for?
“What is her real motive? Who are her sponsors? If she has any evidence of killings, why is she not presenting it to the panel?
“If she was so desperate for asylum in any country, does she have to resort to blatant falsehood to tarnish the image of the country just to achieve her aim’’?
The minister appealed to countries that have made hasty judgments on the basis of fake news and disinformation emanating from the #EndSARS crisis to endeavour to seek and get the truth.
DJ Switch, who was among the #EndSARS protesters, streamed live the purported shooting at the Lekki tollgate plaza in Lagos.
It was reported that the Canadian authority granted asylum to the disk jockey after she alleged threats to her life for her action.
All heads of information agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Culture, including the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Mr. Buki Ponle were at the media briefing.
(NAN)
