A Twitter account with the name ‘ASUU chairman’ has been found to be disseminating fictitious information about a supposed indefinite strike actiom declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The FAKE news which has been reported by many news platforms and bloggers comes as millions of Nigerian students, parents, and education stakeholders expect the outcome of a meeting by members of the union.
WuzupNigeria reported that the members of the union members of the National Executive Committee of ASUU held a meeting at UNILAG to finalise the union’s decision on an impending strike.
As of the time of filing this report, the outcome of the meeting has not been made public.
The PUNCH, quoting officials of ASUU, has subsequently reported that the decision on the strike would be announced on Monday, February 14th, 2022.
What the FAKE Twitter account said
One of the misleading tweets on the handle read, “#ASUU Finally the meeting has ended. Expect an official report. This is against our wish but we have to put the needs of our union first, I announce to you with a heavy heart the commencement of a nationwide strike starting from 14th February till our needs are met.”
But contrary to this, the union’s executives, including the National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, had confirmed that the union has no Twitter account.
Use of past ASUU president’s image
It was also discovered that the fake information has an image of the past ASUU chairman, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi.
Meanwhile, the current ASUU chairman is Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke.
The caption on the image that is mostly circulated kn WhatsApp read, “ASUU update 2022: All universities are suspended from having lectures from 14th February”.
Also it should be noted that the time displayed on the image -14:27, as of that time, ASUU NEC was still meeting.
According to sources, ASUU is yet to declare any strike as of 09.40pm on Sunday.