Police arrested a comedian for spreading fake news

On Thursday, the police arrested a comedian named Augustine Valentine,
popularly known as MC Fine, for alleged spread of fake news.

Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Biodun Makanyuola of the force in Bwari,
FCT, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that Mr. Valentine posted a
false report on Facebook alleging the apprehension of a female kidnapper.
"After investigation, we found the report to be fake," he said.

According to NAN report, that the middle-age woman , who was identified
as Zulai, had be attacked on Wednesday, around Zenith Bank area in Bwari,
over the suspicion that she had attempted to kidnap a two-year-old male child.

The police intervened quickly and arrested the woman. It was during
investigation that it was found out that Zulai was physically and psychologically unstable.

The DPO told NAN, while the investigation was going on, Mr. Valentine posted fake information concerning the incident, on the social media platform.

"When she was brought here, I asked my people to first take  to the
General Hospital for medicals. They came back with a medical report
indicating that she was suffering from depression.

"The report also referred her to Karu  Psychiatric Hospital for proper
evaluation. Right now, we are preparing to take her there.

"We were still on the matter when I started receiving calls about a post
on Facebook claiming that a woman was a kidnapper. The report claimed
that her phone had message conversations on how many children to be kidnapped.

"I made efforts and finally discovered who posted the story, brought him
here for questioning, and he confessed he only added some of the details
to add glamor to the story."

Mr. Valentine regretted his action, admitted that he was not at the scene
of the incident when it occurred on Wednesday. But the pictures and the
alleged story were sent to him via Whatsapp, a social media platform, by
an unknown number.

Zulai is known in the community for her love for children and sometimes
buys the children sweets and other food items with no parent complaining
of a missing child. She is also said to be harmless with no criminal
record.