Nigerian Comedian Arrested For Spreading False News

MC Fine
MC Fine

An Abuja based comedian Augustine Valentine aka MC Fine has been arrested by the Nigerian police command on Thursday, over the alleged spread of fake news.

Biodun Makanjuola, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the force in Bwari, FCT, said the comedian had taken to his Facebook page to share a false report on the alleged nabbing of a female kidnapper. “After investigation, we found the report to be fake,” he said.

The woman whose name has since been given as Zulai, was reportedly attacked in Bwari, after claims that she attempted to kidnap a two-year-old male child. The police were called in and upon investigation, found out that she was physically and psychologically unstable.

The DPO speaking on the case said;

“When she was brought here, I asked my people to first take her to the General Hospital for medicals. They came back with a medical report indicating that she was suffering from depression.

The report also referred her to Karu Psychiatric Hospital for proper evaluation. Right now, we are preparing to take her there.

“We were still on the matter when I started receiving calls about a post on Facebook claiming that the woman was a kidnapper. The report claimed that her phone had message conversations on how many children to be kidnapped.

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I made efforts and finally discovered who posted the story, brought him here for questioning, and he confessed he only added some of the details to add glamour to the story.”

The DPO, also cautioned people against spreading unverified news, adding that such actions could cause negative impact on people’s life. “We are working with the affected families to douse the tension. This town can be volatile, so we are not taking anything for granted,” he said.

Valentine, speaking on the incident said he was not at the scene of the incident when it occurred on Wednesday adding that he only saw the story on Whatsapp by an unknown number.

Valentine, had claimed on his Facebook page that “the crowd gathered, checked her phone which revealed how many children she was asked to provide by her accomplices”.