Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Federal Government has countered the claim alleging that it wanted to flood the market with rice but lacked sufficient bags to stock the commodity.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, in a statement made available to Daily Sun by the ministry’s Director of Information, Tolu Makinde, on Friday, said such a statement could only emanate from mischief-makers believed to be enemies of the present administration.
Ogbeh, however, appealed to Nigerians to jettison the claim. Said he, “The trending lie will not have merited our comment but for the fact that many well-meaning Nigerians have called to ascertain the veracity of the statement.”
“The story indeed is a wicked lie meant to cause mischief by merchants of falsehood; as the Honorable Minister never made any such statement.
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“Those peddling this falsehood as expected, could not supply the date, venue and occasion where the minister made the purported statement.
“The truth of the matter is that the false claim is not new as it first appeared in the social media last year without any impact; and that the story was being recycled apparently to cause mischief.
“Members of the public are enjoined to discountenance the news as being outright lie emanating from infertile brain of ghost writers and mischief makers,” he added.