The Federal Government on Tuesday debunked a news report in an online newspaper of a coup scare in the country.The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris in a statement said “the report is unequivocally false, and is a heinous act of disinformation”.
In the statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Minister’s media aide, Mr Rabiu Ibrahim, he urged the public to ignore the report on the coup scare as it is aimed at sowing seeds of discord in the country.
According to the Minister, the report is “the figment of the warped imagination of detractors, whose malicious intent is to destabilise the country and undermine the present administration”
Idris said the government would neither be distracted nor intimidated into abandoning the ongoing reforms aimed at rejuvenating the economy and creating a pathway of prosperity for the citizenry.
“it is now evident that some desperate individuals have resorted to publishing fake news to erode public trust in the government and sow the seed of discord in the country.
“The government will exercise its rights within the laws to contain rogue actions to destabilise national security and the nation’s hard-earned democracy,” he said.
Idris urged the public to exercise discernment and refrain from spreading or amplifying the unfounded report.
He stressed that the report was being strategically planted on some pliant and compromised news platforms to subvert the nation’s democracy.
Sahara Reporters had claimed that the Presidential Guards Brigade had been put on high alert following unusual movements, leading to suspicions of a coup plot in Nigeria.
SaharaReporters had reported exclusively on Sunday that the suspicions prompted emergency meetings involving the Commander of the Presidential Guards Brigade, Col. Adebisi Onasanya, President Bola Tinubu and the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
“The Presidential Guards Brigade was placed on high alert after unusual armoured corps movement spurred coup suspicion according to the publication.
