The Lagos State Government has announced plans to institute legal action against an X user accused of sharing a misleading flood video falsely claimed to have been recorded in Lagos.
Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, disclosed this on Tuesday through a series of posts on X, stating that deleting the post after it had been debunked would not exempt the user from legal consequences.
According to Wahab, investigations showed that the viral flood footage did not originate from Lagos but from Bangladesh. He urged social media users to verify the authenticity of content before sharing it, warning that false information could mislead the public and undermine genuine conversations about issues affecting the state.
The commissioner stressed that while the government respects freedom of expression, citizens also have a responsibility to ensure that the information they publish is accurate and within the bounds of the law.
He added that the deliberate spread of false information not only damages the efforts of the Lagos State Government but also weakens the credibility of legitimate complaints made by residents regarding environmental issues.
Following the government’s clarification, the X user, identified as “Enugu Loudspeaker (#Jamessucre2),” admitted that the video was not recorded in Nigeria and subsequently deleted the post, acknowledging that the footage originated outside the country.
Despite the retraction, the Lagos State Government maintained that it would proceed with legal action, insisting that the removal of the misleading post does not erase responsibility for disseminating false information to the public.
