CP appeals to FCT residents to shun fake news, refutes ISWAP invasion

The Commissioner of Police (CP) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Babaji Sunday, on Wednesday appealed to FCT residents to shun fake news but to always verify news before circulating. He refuted the report that the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) invaded a territory in the FCT.

The CP in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer of the FCT Command, DSP Josephine Adeh, in Abuja on Wednesday, urged the residents not to allow irresponsible people spreading fake news to turn them into “panic driven generation”.

The CP urged the residents to take full advantage of the various channels provided by the police to report or verify information on any security issue.

He provided telephone numbers – 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883 – through which FCT residents can promptly report suspicious or abnormal activities in their environment to the Command. He added that the Public Complaint Bureau desk can also be contacted on 0902 222 2352.

The CP declare: “Consequent upon the above, the command in a short while has recorded several arrests of gunrunners, interrupted channels of prohibited substances, drug peddling, and arrested perpetrators.

“The detection and destruction of criminal hideouts and execution of a general security sweep from the city centres to the suburbs, displacing criminal elements have also been evident with the above.

“It is, therefore, in the interest of all and sundry to state that an end has to come to the era of panic driven generation and promulgation of fake news.”

The CP stated that the publication circulating in some sections of the media that the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) has invaded the territory was false and baseless.

The CP declared: “The news is baseless on all fronts as the said journalist refuted all highlighted parts maliciously amplified to suggest a terrorist invasion.

“Preliminary investigation also shows that nothing of such happened in the mentioned area and the FCT as a whole.

“Residents are therefore urged to go about their lawful duties without fear of harassment and molestation of any kind or from any quarters.”