Groups engaged in blackmail are henceforth to face immediate arrest, as the Conference of Civil Societies launches a National Fake Tracker. This was disclosed today in Abuja at a Press Conference organized by the Conference of Civil Societies. Addressing the pressmen on Fake News and Blackmail of Government and Non-Governmental Officials and Institutions in Nigeria, the Head of Programs of the Conference, Mr. David Acheme Said the Civil Society is “deeply worried by the current toxic culture of blackmailing government and non-governmental officials and institutions by certain individuals and groups. These elements who masquerade as anti-corruption activists are often in the habit of renting crowds to hold protests against their victims whom they also picket at will, and go as far as exploiting the media with ulterior motives of being paid to be silent.”
The Conference maintained that “For all intents and purposes, blackmail and extortion are heinous crimes that constitute serious threat to national Defence, Security and Development, and must be frontally confronted by all stakeholders, and all the more so by genuine public spirited civil society organizations whose hard-earned images are being progressively tarnished by these obnoxious elements.”
The Conference further disclosed plan of organizing a “National Roundtable of stakeholders on 31st January, 2024 in Abuja to address this challenge, and Launch a National Fake Tracker in hope that we shall collectively rid our dear nation of this menace that is exacerbating the current wave of insecurity across the country.”
