Imo state government has described as false, the rumours that it plans to rename Imo State University after the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
The Chief Press Secretary/ Media Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State stated this on Monday in a press release in reaction to an online report making the rounds that the governor is to change the name of the University.
The online report titled ‘Uzodimma To Rename IMSU Mallam Abba Kyari University’, purportedly signed by the CPS read in part;
“Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has hinted that plans are in place to rename the state-owned Imo State University to Mallam Abba Kyari University.
“The Governor made this call when the management staff of the university led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adaobi Obasi paid him a visit at the Executive Chambers of the Imo State Government House.
“The Governor went on to say that Mallam Abba Kyari played a pivotal role in the liberation of Imo State and no gesture is too big for a man who died as a patriot.”
But in a reaction, the CPS to Imo Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku described the report as totally false and misleading.
The CPS said; “The attention of the Office of the Chief Press Secretary/Media adviser to the Governor has been drawn to fake news circulating on the social media, purporting that Governor Hope Uzodimma wants to rename Imo State University, Owerri, after the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
“The author(s) of the fake news had not only credited to the governor what he could not have said, but they criminally wrote the name of his Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser, Mr. Oguwike Nwachuku, as the one who signed the purported statement.
“Since last weekend that Kyari passed on, the same persons have been issuing press statements, forging the logo of government and the name of Mr. Nwachuku with the intent to deceive Imolites in particular and the public in general into believing their propaganda and fake news to be real.”
Nwachuku accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP of concocting the lies to smear the image of the government and its functionaries before Imolites.
“Ordinarily, the blackmail by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through the two fake statements they credited to the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor should have been ignored, knowing that no right-thinking person will believe them.
“In one of such fake statements they issued and also circulated on social media, they mischievously credited Governor Uzodimma to have said he would immortalise Kyari for making him, Governor. How would any person believe the complete thrash that Governor Uzodimma will in a condolence letter say that the late Chief of Staff to the President made him governor of Imo State?” he queried.
He continued; “Not done, the PDP went further to credit yet another fallacy to the CPS/Media Adviser that Governor Uzodimma will rename Imo State University after the late Kyari.
“It was their desperation to deepen the propaganda and criminal intents that drove them to the latest fake news of purported renaming of Imo State University after Kyari, something that only exists in the imagination of their tiny brain’s imagination.”
The CPS expressed sadness “that the PDP has lost every sense of decency and fallen to the beastly level of denigrating the memory of the dead.”
“One is not shocked, therefore, to notice that even in their desperation, the PDP could go so low to commit the sacrilege of dragging the name of a late distinguished statesman into gutter politics. “
He, therefore, made it clear that the two statements in reference were not issued by the office of the CPS/Media Adviser, adding that they were fabricated and issued by the PDP and credited them to his office.
“We know exactly the person behind this and appropriate legal steps have been initiated to bring him to book. That is why we enjoin the public, including Imolites, to ignore all the fake news being churned out around the death of Kyari by the PDP agents and to also bear in mind that their appetite for wrong causes may not be easy to quench in one fell swoop. We also advise the reading public to take fake news seriously and make conscious efforts to identify the promoters and ensure that they join others who stand against fake news globally to make their trade unattractive,” Nwachuku said.
