AFEEZ RABIU
CLAIM
An online media published an article dated July 13 2022 with an headline stating that “Lagos State House Of Assembly Secretly Passes Sharia Law In A Deal To Get Northern Support For Tinubu”
FULL REPORT
An online media published an article categorized as news on the platform that the Lagos state house of assembly has secretly and hurriedly passed a bill for the setting up of Sharia courts paving way for Sharia law in Lagos which has since been signed into law by the current state governor.
READ: INFORMATION DISORDER: A MALADY ON ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA
The publication claimed that the bill was passed without public awareness:
“Why was this bill passed and signed into law without public scrutiny and awareness? Why did the Lagos State governor or the House of Assembly not make public this landmark bill? Were they afraid of the backlash that would have greeted this bill at even the proposal stage? Who sponsored this bill, voted for or against it at the House and why was there no public awareness or call for public contributions in deliberating on such a social disruptive bill?”
The article which directly accused the All Progressive Congress APC Presidential flag bearer of all forms of illegalities:
“Tinubu is a festering cankerworm that has been allowed to pollute and destroy Yoruba politics, culture and identity. This is why bastards are hated the world over for they have no home nor name to protect”
The article was ended with the last line stating the source of the claims being NAIRALAND another blog with no link directing readers to the said site nor the claim as mentioned.
READ: FactCheckElections Trains Volunteers On Fact-Checking
VERIFICATION
A simple keyword search to see if there was any history of such claim proved abortive as there were no reports of such from any conventional platforms be it national or international.
Further, attempts to reach sources in the state house of assembly proved abortive also as there were no direct response from authorities but replies gotten from unofficial sources proved there was no sitting where such bill was either sponsored or passed.
As at presstime, the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, Setonji David released a statement refuting the claim:
Alleged secret passage of Sharia law by Lagos Assembly, a lie from the pit of hell
The attention of the Lagos State House of Assembly has been drawn to a malicious and unfounded report making the rounds on social media that the assembly has secretly passed a sharia law in a deal to get Northern support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC Presidential Candidates.
We would not have dignified the writer of this hate speech but in order to set the record straight, this is a mere figment of the imagination of the writer and a total lie from the pit of hell.
No informed person should believe this lies against the Assembly that is above the common standard of excellence. The news is far from the reality.
Some people are just mischievous. Spreading all sorts of untrue stuff. Is it possible to pass a law under cover? The process of law making is universal and very open. You cannot pass a law without subjecting it to public hearing in Lagos State.
We urged the residents of the state and Nigerians as a whole to take the peddlers of this unfounded report as illiterate, uninformed, and uneducated people who needed to be schooled about law making process.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a fast selling products across the country and does not need any law from the state to further endear him to all Nigerians and by the Special Grace of God, the Jagaban would emerge winner of the 2023 Presidential election to the shame of the purveyors of this hate news.
READ: FACT CHECK: Tinubu’s Claim On PVC Expiration Is False
Also, the Lagos State House of Assembly through its verified twitter account also put up a statement to demise the claims:
FAKE NEWS ALERT!! :ALLEGED SECRET PASSAGE OF SHARIA LAW.
This Assembly has not secretly passed any law that borders on sharia legal system. #Thread pic.twitter.com/fhozIo5syy
— LagosHouseOfAssembly (@lshaofficial) July 13, 2022
CONCLUSION
With no substantial evidence and visible attack on an individual, the sensational report can be said to be misleading with the claim being an outright falsehood.
CONTEXT
As elections approach, it is a known practice all over the country that information spike are experienced and there is need to filter what is consumed from the information overload because of the mischievous attempts by fakenews purveyors to mislead the public for their selfish gains.
Since the proliferation of social media, there has been a rise of information dissemination by individuals some with large following translating to a form of agenda setting and public opinion shaping.
With no proper gatekeeping and regulation mechanism, social media influencers with large followers, bloggers, citizen journalist and even some conventional media have been caught in the web of of misinforming the public through fake news and information disorder.
The implication that this has on the general public is that it creates a possibility for people without deep media literacy to be misled and sometimes swayed to align with certain ideas and agenda as the case may be.