The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has faulted the claim by a group that they are responsible for the recent alleged attack on the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.

The NGO in its latest newsletter faulted the claims by stating that the faceless group had made such claims about violence in the past that has been disproven.

Their statement reads in part:



Disinformation and misinformation are currently being spread in such a manner that they both pose a global threat, causing unease and fear within societies and organisations. With our work at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), we are committed to empowering people across the West African region with adequate knowledge that could help them to identify and verify all forms of false information and claims.

At the Centre, we believe democracy can hardly thrive in an environment filled with falsehood – whether online or offline – and the chaos that results from it.

Over the weekend, news platforms across Nigeria reported that a group Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) had taken responsibility for the attack on Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom.

Also speaking on the African Independent Television’s News Hour on Sunday, March 21, the Governor said FUNAM have come out to take responsibility for the attack on him (Governor Ortom) while on his farm, in Benue.

Investigations by the CDD traced the original message to a post from a blog titled Jungle Journalist – a message that was posted in October and found on Nairaland, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

In 2019, CDD conducted a fact-check exposing FUNAM as a faceless group that emerged the previous year, 2018. The group as at the time claimed to have been responsible for the crisis between farmers and herders.

While it has become clear that FUNAM does not exist, the group has been used as a weapon to stoke ethnic tensions as far back as 2018.

For instance, during the #EndSARS protest, a statement credited to FUNAM said the non-existent group claimed responsibility for the burning of vehicles in Apo area of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city on October 19, 2020.

There is no group known as FUNAM and not responsible for the attacks on #EndSARS protesters in Apo district of Abuja.

This is an attempt at stoking ethnic tensions and should be ignored.


Check out the newsletter here >>>>>
https://www.cddwestafrica.org/cdd-newsletter-for-the-week-ending-march-21-2021/

If it is not Funam, it is Funam's brother