The Department of State Security (DSS) has granted the detained Bayelsa news-blogger, Saint Miepano Onitsha bail over a publication of alleged fake news on the collapse of the N7billion Isolation Centre located at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja in Kogi State.
Onitsha, the owner of the naijalive.com, was arrested in the early hours of Sunday in a controversial circumstance which triggered outrage following an alarm raised by his family that he was kidnapped. But according to the DSS, investigations, and arrest of the Bayelsa news blogger have shown that the publication is no doubt an orchestration to tarnish the image of the state governor, Yahaya Bello, and incite the public against his administration.
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The DSS alleged that the fake publication over which Onitsha was arrested was posted on May 2, 2020, on the website with a caption,
“It costs us N7b to build and equip the Kogi Isolation Centre for Covid-19, which rain destroyed”
The Deputy State Director of the DSS, Intelligence, and Operations told newsmen that the detained blogger has admitted the fact that the report was lifted from a twitter handle and not verified. According to him, as you all know, social media is a veritable tool for social mobilization either for good or bad motives. He said rather than use it for positive development; Onitsha exploited it for sinister objectives that were capable of undermining national security.
“Therefore, as a responsible and front line intelligence service with the mandate of ensuring internal security, it is quite appropriate that subversive activities and tendencies such as this are curtailed in good time hence the action taken. He will also be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other like minds.”
Onitsha admitted to have lifted the report from a twitter handle. “Attempts to verify were difficult and it was a mistake to have reposted it,” he said.
He, however, denied the claims by some of his followers in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital that he was kidnapped by unknown gunmen and that the Bayelsa State Government was involved in his arrest.
