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How social media threatened my 40-year-old marriage – Lai Mohammed

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FG RAISES SECURITY ALERT

 

Lai Mohammed, former minister of information and culture, says social media threatened his 40-year old marriage.

Mohammed spoke in Lagos at an event to commemorate the 90th birthday anniversary of Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate.

 

Mohammed explained that one of the pressing challenges he faced in office as minister was the spate of fake news, misinformation and disinformation.

 

Speaking on how the menace almost ruined his marriage, Mohammed said the consequences of fake news, disinformation and misinformation were far-reaching

 

“Permit me to share publicly with you today for the first time, how social media threatened the foundation of my forty-year-old marriage,” he said.

“It was sometimes in 2018 when I came to Lagos from Abuja for an official assignment. As usual, I retire to bed about midnight, but about 3 am, my wife gently roused me from my slumber.

“At first, I panicked, fearing that there had been a security breach, but my wife’s mien belied that possibility, for she was calm and composed.

 

“Solemnly, my wife asked me if I was fully awake as there were some serious issues to discuss.

“I could not fathom what was that urgent or serious to warrant being woken up at this time of the night.

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“My mind immediately did a kaleidoscope of my rascalities and escapades in the last few months.”

The former minister said the accusation from his wife was “a bombshell”.

 

“Daddy, death can come knocking at any moment, please let me also, as your wife, be a signatory to your oversea account in Ali Financial which contains 1.3 billion dollars,” his wife reportedly said.

The former minister said he could not believe that his wife could believe the fake story in circulation crediting huge sums of money in overseas accounts to government functionaries/ministers under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

 

“I spent the next two hours or so, sweating to convince my wife that there is no iota of truth in the allegation,” he added.

“I had to fetch a calculator and reproduce the federal appropriation act for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the middle of the night and explain to her why it is simply preposterous for me to have 1.3 billion dollars in a foreign account.

“I explained to her that there is no year my capital budget exceeded N5 billion, which then, at about N400 to a dollar, was just 12.5 million dollars.

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“I explained that, even if I managed to divert every kobo of it to my personal account, it will take at least, 104 years to save the sum of 1.3 billion dollars being peddled that I stole.

 

“My wife insisted that the whole world believed the story and that her friends had as a result, besieged her with all kinds of requests.

“She said every effort on her part to deny the existence of this foreign account only succeeded in depicting her in the minds of her friends as a selfish, greedy and uncaring friend.

“Is my wife truly convinced of my innocence? The answer is in the wind!”

‘DISINFORMATION IS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY’

Mohammed reiterated that social media remain the platforms of choice for the purveyors of fake news, anti-state groups, anarchists, secessionists, terrorists and bandits.

 

He noted that while in government, his ministry uncovered 476 online publications that were dedicated to spreading fake news against the previous administration.

 

Mohammed said fake news has become exponential through the use of Artificial Intelligence and deep learning techniques to create highly realistic fake or manipulated videos, audio recordings or images.

 

“The consequences of disinformation and misinformation are far-reaching,” he said.

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“They undermine democratic processes, sow discord within communities, and pose significant threats to public health and safety.

 

“Today, even the media is at the risk of losing its credibility because of the proliferation of fake news on the social media.

 

“Therefore, the media, as custodians of the public trust, must take decisive action to combat the scourge of disinformation and misinformation.”

 

He said social media should be checked through robust regulatory frameworks to curb the spread of false information while safeguarding freedom of expression.

 

While in government, Mohammed had argued that there was a need to check the “excesses of social media” owing to the rise of fake news and disinformation.

 

He had said if left unregulated, social media would destroy the country.

 

On June 4, 2021, the Buhari-led government suspended the operations of X (formerly known as Twitter) in Nigeria.

 

The development came hours after a tweet by Buhari was deleted but the federal government had said the decision was as a result of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.

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Bobrisky donates chairs to Kirikiri prison

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Embattled crossdresser, Idris Okuneye, better known as Bobrisky, who was jailed for abuse of the Naira has reportedly donated plastic chairs to the National Correctional Service (NCoS) Kirikiri prison.

 

It would be recalled that Bobrisky entered a guilty plea in court and was sentenced to six months imprisonment without an option of fine.

 

The controversial crossdresser appears to have donated plastic chairs for the NCoS Kirikiri’s visitor area, according to recent reports circulating online.


The viral photo of the plastic chairs was captioned: “On behalf of Bobrisky for the National Correctional Service Kirikiri for the visiting area.”

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Sex for marks: UNN suspends, probes lecturer ‘attempting to sexually assault’ student

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The University of Nigeria (UNN) has suspended a lecturer, identified as Mfonobong Udoudom, over what it described as an “inappropriate affair” with a student.

 

On Tuesday, the senior lecturer of General Studies is seen in viral videos pacing back and forth in his office, visibly panicked, and clothed in his underpants.

 

Sources at the university disclosed that the lecturer was “caught pants down attempting to have sex with a married female student of the school”.

 

The sources alleged that Udoudom had long been in the practice of only “passing female students after sleeping with them”.

 

It was alleged that he made a female student understand she wouldn’t pass his course unless she submitted herself for sexual intercourse with him.

 

One of the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the female student planned with her husband to entrap the lecturer while working with UNN security and other students.

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The student source further said the security agents forcefully broke into his office and caught the lecturer “in action”.

 

“It was planned out with her husband and security agents in the school. The female was made to approach the lecturer to offer him money in order to scale through his course. He refused and insisted he needed to have sexual intercourse with her in his office,” the source said.

 

“When the lady succumbed to his demands and asked him to undress, he was caught wearing only boxers.”

 

In the now-viral footage, a witness is heard saying: “We have been following this case from day one. We have all the chats, voice notes, video calls, and every conversation he had with the female student”.

 

The UNN management confirmed that Udoudom has now been suspended.

 

Okwun Omeaku, UNN’s acting media spokesperson, said the senior lecturer will be made to face the staff disciplinary panel.

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“The indefinite suspension is with immediate effect pending the outcome of a disciplinary panel constituted by the university to investigate the incident,” he said.

 

“UNN has a zero tolerance for sexual misconducts involving our staff and students.

 

“We are committed to protecting our students from any form of abuse and exploitation. The university management will not hesitate to punish Mr. Mfonobong David Udoudom according to our rules if he is found guilty.”

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Tourism Icon, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye’s Tourism product No 28 is ‘Transforming Attractions to Destinations

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In delivering this week’s tourism product, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye, apologized over the delay, which he attributed to his rather very tight schedule, and work on a project related to this week’s tourism product as well.

 

He recalled that, in the last 40 years development of the tourism industry in Nigeria, he has always stressed the importance of creating tourism destinations.

 

Otunba Akinboboye said that, Nigeria has numerous geographical and other attractions that includes beaches, hills, waterfalls, historical landmarks and so on. However, it has failed to transform many of these tourist attractions into tourism destinations, which is essential in creating a viable tourism industry in Nigeria and providing employment and economic empowerment to numerous communities across Nigeria.

 

The tourism icon, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye explained that, when tourists visit an attraction, they will only expend money at that location if it contains infrastructure that encourages such expenditure. The required infrastructure includes decent accommodation, places to eat and drink, apparatus for sporting and leisure activities, tourist knick knacks and so on.

 

When such infrastructure is present. it enhances the tourism experience and encourage the tourist (whether local or international) to spend the money he has put aside for his visit. It also encourages repeat visits.

 

By providing things the tourist wants to use or purchase at a tourism attraction, you encourage him/her to spend, and this ultimately benefits the economies of the communities in the immediate vicinity of the attraction.

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Otunba Akinboboye emphasized that tourist attractions, by themselves, do not bring sustained and significant economic upliftment to the communities in which they are located. It is only when such attractions have been transformed into tourism destinations that their adjacent communities can truly take advantage of the economic advantages they give rise to.

 

Otunba Akinboboye mentioned that in Nigeria there are 774 Local Government Areas. He also noted that each local government area contains at least one potential tourism attraction which, if properly presented and managed, could become a tourism destination.

 

While there may be a fear that transforming so many attractions into destinations would be extremely expensive, Otunba Akinboboye is of the view that the current world focus on Eco – tourism means that countries like Nigeria could build tourism destinations that are targeted at eco tourists, and which can leverage off traditional architecture and used equipment for sports and activities that has a traditional bent.

This would give our tourism destinations an African ambiance and promote our culture in a manner that would appeal to international tourists that are focused on obtaining new and unique experiences through tourism.

 

In support of his thinking, Otunba Akinboboye pointed to the rise of luxury camping trips or glamping in Europe and in Kenya. This involved the use of tent as accommodation. He also spoke about the thousands of European tourists that backpacked through Asia and stayed in fairly basic accommodation so they could experience something new.

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Otunba Akinboboye then spoke about his experience developing a tourism attraction into a tourism destination. He noted that when he first came across attraction, it consisted of a site bordered by the ocean and which contained both a lagoon and mangrove forest. Although those three natural features were interesting, they would not have attracted the tourism traffic required to make them economically beneficial.

 

He therefore weaved a Resort – La Campagne Tropicana – around these natural attractions. In particular he built unique accommodation, installed sporting facilities and made provision for African centrex entertainment. By doing this, he transformed these natural attractions into a tourism destination which local and international tourists could visit for recreation.

 

Otunba Akinboboye noted that the transformation of these attractions to a tourism destination provided economic benefits for the surrounding communities. The Resort employs workers from the surrounding villages and therefore generate employment for young people who otherwise would have migrated to the city. The closest village; Ikegun, which, when the Resort was first founded, could d only boast of 4 concrete structures now counts its concrete houses in hundreds and even has its own petrol station.

 

Otunba Akinboboye mentioned that he was currently transforming a tourism attraction in Ondo town, Ondo, which consists of rocky hills, caves and forest, into a tourism destination, which will take the form of Resort.

He mention that the Resort, which was nearing completion, made use of the the caves to create a unique ‘restaurant’ and‘ night club’, which unlike other so called cave restaurants was completely natural not man made.

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The Resort also provide accommodation that is aligned to the Afrocentric architecture used by the La Campagne brand.

It was anticipated that visitors to the Ondo Resort would be able to hike in the forest, while swimming in the pools that form part of the Resort and playing tennis on its tennis court.

 

Otunba Akinboboye noted that in line with the operating procedures he adopted, while transforming tourism attractions to tourism destination, which he refers to as SCC – Structure – Culture and Clientele – he would now be focusing on generating clientele for the new Resort.

 

He mentioned that the Ondo Resort would be hosting an Asun Carnival on 27 April 2024. This carnival leverages off and celebrates ‘Asun’ a popular culinary item synonymous with the people of Ondo.

 

The carnival will feature colourful costumes, street dancing and plenty of opportunities to eat Asun.

 

The tourism icon said, he will be happy to host any of our readers who would like to visit the Resort and participate in the Asun carnival on 27 April 2024, which is coincidentally the day on which the Resort will be officially declared open.

 

We hope you have enjoyed hearing about the creation of tourism destination from a tourism guru and we look forward to further opportunities to benefit from his wealth of experience on growing tourism in Nigeria.

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