By Tony Adibe
The Greater Awgu Elders Forum (GAEF) has advised media and message platforms to avoid wrong attribution or not give due credit to the originator of a write-up due to cheap political gains or advantages.
The Publicity Secretary of the GAEF, Dr Hillary Njoku, said in a statement on Saturday in Enugu that Nigerians should avoid the attitude of propagating falsehood against individuals or groups in the name of politics as election dates approaches.
Dr Njoku said that the attention of the Greater Awgu Elders Forum has been drawn to some messages in circulation attributed to Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the former Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation.
According to the forum the said message(s) was an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari written by “one of our sons, Dr SKC Ogbonnia,” who was a former Chieftain and Presidential aspirant of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
NewsBits recalls that when the said write-up was making waves particularly on the social media last year, it raised so much dust and the media aide to the former Minister, had to debunk the wrong attribution, clarifying, and confirming that the article or letter was not authored by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
The statement said: “Our son, SKC Ogbonnia, wrote the said 13-paragraph letter on Sept. 30, 2022, but disseminated it to the public via his Facebook page on Oct. 2, 2022.
“The letter enumerated his reasons for making a different presidential choice outside that of the APC and why President Buhari should see reasons with him. Our son shocked the whole world with that letter and created an opportunity for others to think differently.
“We cannot see the reason why such a wonderful message would be edited and attributed to another man whose love for his party is visibly unending. Dr Ogbonnaya Onu did not write the said letter but our son, Dr SKC Ogbonnia, hence why the wrong attribution needs to stop and be avoided with assiduity.
“Dr Ogbonnaya Onu is a known supporter of the APC and her candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bolaji Tinubu and hitherto, has not shown any sign of making any imminent changes.”
Dr Njoku said that ordinarily, the forum was not supposed to reply, but, decided to make this statement to ensure “Nigerians are not misinformed and to ensure that our son gets the desired credit for his wonderful letter.”
The statement called on all to jettison the idea that the letter was written by Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and attribute the original person the credit herein. The forum said: “This anomaly has affected both SKC Ogbonnia, our son, and Dr Ogbonnaya Onu because people want to play politics.
“The latter I know could be having unnecessary issues with his political party, which he has always been loyal to. We see this misappropriate attribution and credit as an impudence taken too far that must be circumvented and circumscribed”.
