The Lagos state police command has reacted to a report which claimed a lady died from an infection after having sex with a dog.
The police command which revealed that they reached out to the author of the article for information that would help the police conclude/close the investigation, said it was shocking “the author claimed he could not verify the story but simply lifted it from an online blog.”
The command added that “not only did this author not credit the original source (plagiarism) of the news in consonance with simple ethics of journalism, he also made no attempt to fact-check the news, thereby making himself susceptible to the spreading of fake news, especially knowing how critical and sensitive the facts in issue were.”
The state police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin in the statement released on Friday May 13, further stated that it is criminal to publish false information with the intent to mislead the public and equally criminal to subvert criminal investigation and obstruct police officers in the discharge of their duties.
The police command is now asking anyone with useful information on the matter to make same available to the police using any of their available communication channels.
The statement read;
The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a publication with the above caption dated May 10, 2022 and credited to one Kayode Ajiboye of Independent Newspapers.
As this borders on an ongoing police investigation, the Lagos State Police Command reached out to the author of this article for information that would help the police conclude/close the investigation. Shockingly, however, the author claimed he could not verify the story but simply lifted it from an online blog. Not only did this author not credit the original source (plagiarism) of the news in consonance with simple ethics of journalism, he also made no attempt to fact-check the news, thereby making himself susceptible to the spreading of fake news, especially knowing how critical and sensitive the facts in issue were.
Available facts suggests that the author is in cahoot with the wanted suspect to help her evade justice, which in itself is a criminal offence.
While it is the duty of every Nigerian to support the police in any ongoing investigation, it is an established fact that it is criminal to publish false information with intent to mislead the public. It is equally criminal to subvert criminal investigation and obstruct police officers in the discharge of their duties.
In line with its stance on transparency, the Lagos State Police Command brings this update to Nigerians and gives assurances that the ongoing investigation has been re-focused appropriately. While available leads are being followed, the Command encourages anyone with useful information on the matter to make same available to the police using any of our available communication channels.
