Lauretta Onochie, the former aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, has once again been criticized for spreading fake news.
This time, she posted a misleading photo on her X handle in an attempt to fuel ethnic tensions in Nigeria.
In a society where the police function without interference, such actions would not go unchecked.
The Misleading Post
Lauretta Onochie shared a photo purportedly of Amaka Patience Sunnberger, a Canada-based Nigerian woman who had threatened to poison Yoruba and Benin individuals. This threat was in response to Kingsley Ugiagbe, a Nigerian resident in Austria, who had made threats to poison Igbo people and unalive their children in a TikTok video. However, the photo Onochie shared was actually of Sen. Nikema Williams, a Georgia, USA lawmaker, taken during an arrest in 2018. Her post included the message:
“You don’t open your mouth anyhow in a society where the Police knows their job and work without interference. Amaka will now explain to the Police her devious plans to poison innocent Nigerians. She went too far with her #Obidiocy.
Community Reaction
The X community quickly exposed the fake photo, with a community note stating: “This handle is deliberately misinforming people in a bid to cause an ethnic argument. The woman in this photo is not Amaka, she was a senator in the US and the incident happened in 2018.”
Background of the Controversy
The controversy began when Kingsley Ugiagbe, a Nigerian based in Austria, made threats to harm Igbo individuals and their children. In response, Amaka Sunnberger, a Nigerian woman living in Canada, called for retaliatory actions, including poisoning Yoruba and Benin individuals in Canada. While Nigerian authorities focused on Sunnberger’s threats, they did not address the initial threats made against the Igbo community.
Selective Justice Criticism
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), brought Sunnberger’s threats to the attention of Canadian authorities but did not mention the preceding remarks against the Igbo community. This perceived selective justice has sparked criticism. The Edo community in Austria has suspended Kingsley Ugiagbe, while Dabiri-Erewa has yet to make a statement regarding the threats against the Igbo.
Onochie’s History of Spreading Fake News
This is not the first time Onochie has been accused of spreading fake news. In 2018, she was caught sharing an old picture claiming it was of then opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar distributing cash and food packs at a rally. The photo was later found to be from a Lagos-based charity foundation and had been in circulation years before. Onochie has also been known to misrepresent facts, such as posting a picture of a road in the US and claiming it was the rehabilitated Nasarawa-Jos Road in Nigeria
