The Rivers State Government has dismissed as fake, a news item on the social media that Governor Siminalayi Fubara has directed the shutdown of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and all oil companies in the State, in response to the ruling of the Abuja High Court, stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withhold statutory allocations due it.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Warisenibo Joe Johnson, through a statement in Port Harcourt, said the governor is committed to the rule of law and does not rely on unconventional and crude approaches to respond to matters of governance.
The statement urged Rivers people and well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the spurious and fake report, emphasising that Governor Fubara at no time contemplated an order of shutting down the economy.
The statement read: “The attention of Rivers State Government has been drawn to a spurious news item circulating on social media on “Gov. Siminalayi Fubara shutting down NNPCL and all oil companies in Rivers State.
“The report was not only false, but a concocted propaganda from the imagination of the author and enemies of the State. The story was also circulated by an inconsequential and unverified medium.
“Governor Siminalayi Fubara is committed to the rule of law and does not rely on unconventional and crude approaches to respond to matters of governance.
“We, therefore, enjoin Rivers people and well-meaning Nigerians to discountenance the spurious and fake report as Governor Fubara at no time contemplated and/or directed such needless order of shutting down the economy for any reason.”