The Akwa Ibom State government has disclaimed a viral post allegedly linked to the Deputy Governor, Akon Eyakenyi over a Bill to criminalise sexual relationships between unmarried women and married men in the state after she appeared to have been unfairly targeted by purveyors of fake news.
It all began as a harmless post that the deputy governor, though her name was not correctly written, had sponsored a Bill in the State House of Assembly to punish unmarried ladies who engaged in illicit relationships with married men.
The post added that the State Assembly was about to pass the Bill into a law criminalising the act and making it punishable by a ten-year imprisonment for the girls while the men would only be fined N2 million without being sent to jail.
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Soon, the post gained traction and raised many issues about gender rights and governance processes in the state as the Bill appeared to have been quite unfair to the ladies while not apportioning appropriate punishment to the men who are also part of the affair.
It raised the question of whether it is the responsibility of the Deputy Governor to sponsor a bill in the State Assembly and why she was particular about issues of female-male relationship that should take place in “other rooms.”
According to Ima Obong Uboh, a popular influencer and a gender rights advocate, it is unfair “to punish a woman heavier than the woman when it takes two to tango,’’ she said on a facebook post.
Others have also questioned the authenticity of the report given the name of the Deputy Governor was not correctly spelt as the post went viral across many platforms.
In responding to the post, both the State Government and the State Assembly as well as the Office of the Deputy Governor issued disclaimers dissociating themselves from the said post, warning members of the public to disregard the fake report.
Aniekan Umanah, commissioner for Information, in a statement made available to the media, expressed dismay over the post saying, that “the claim is entirely false, misleading and without any factual basis.
“For the record, the Deputy Governor has not sponsored any Bill in the State House of Assembly or elsewhere and she is completely unaware of the purported Bill circulating online.
“As a member of the State Executive Council, the Deputy Governor does not have the mandate to sponsor Bills to the House of Assembly independently.
“Any Executive Bill must first be deliberated upon and approved by the Council before being transmitted to the legislature by the Executive Arm of government.
“The public is hereby called upon to ignore the fake news and false posts circulating on social media.”
In the same vein, the State Assembly said the report was “an attempt to tarnish the image of the Deputy Governor and the State Assembly,” and urged the public to disregard the fake news and any associated commentaries.
Jerry Otu, chairman, House Committee on Information, said that the report “is entirely false and has no basis in fact. The Assembly has not received or considered any such bill and the Deputy Governor has not sponsored it.
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“The report claims that the Bill is sponsored by the Deputy Governor, Akon Eyakenyi and imposes a 10-year sentence on women found guilty of engaging in sexual relationships with married men while men would face a N2 million fine.”
While denying any knowledge of the said Bill, the Deputy Governor herself said she “does not enjoy the luxury of personally sponsoring Bills without passing same through the Council for transmission to the legislature by the governor or his assigned agent.’’
The state government reminded the public that with the next general election around the corner, high profile politicians may be the target of fake news platforms in a bid to discredit them by publishing reports that could tarnish their reputations for reasons best known to their sponsors.
