Thisday Newspaper, a National Newspaper in Nigeria well known and reputed for good journalism has lived up to its billing by issuing a press statement with regards to the fake news publication targeted at tarnishing the image of Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Imo state.
The release made avaliable to newsmen reads thus "The attention of the Management of THISDAY has been drawn to a fake version of our digital edition making the rounds on some social media platforms.
With the headline: “Shocking: Uzodinma declares Free Marriage Between Fulani Settlers and Imo Ladies”, this fake version of our digital edition is being circulated on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms.
"We wish to state that THISDAY at no time published the said story. Our lead story on Friday, August 27 was, “Buhari Elated as NNPC Breaks Jinx, Declares N287bn Profit, First in 44 Years”.
Sadly, these merchants of fake news have chosen to leverage on the credibility and integrity of THISDAY to ply their trade.
We completely reject this poor attempt by some unscrupulous people at impersonating our brand and identity in pursuit of whatever agenda they may have, by seeking to disseminate fake news to members of the public as emanating from THISDAY.
For the avoidance of doubt, readers can easily verify our Friday publication from the print edition, or online (www.thisdaylive.com). We therefore call on members of the public who may have unwittingly fell for the cloned digital copy to disregard it and treat it with the utmost contempt it deserves.
We also use this opportunity to call on security agencies to help unmask the counterfeiters behind this forgery and bring them to book.