The Kaduna State government has said that it will prosecute Audu Maikori,a lawyer and entrepreneur who shared what eventually turned out to be  false story on the social media about the Southern Kaduna crisis.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai said this while speaking at the ongoing Social Media Week 2017, insisting that Maikori will face the full wrath of the law for publishing “fake stories and pictures.”

“We are going to prosecute him,” El-Rufai said. “He was arrested, his statement has been taken, he is on bail.

“He is going to be prosecuted. His fate will be decided by a judge.”

The governor said he has no personal grouse against the lawyer turned entertainment guru, but stressed that his prosecution would serve as a deterrent to people who spread false information and fake news on the social media.

“It is not personal. I have nothing against him. In fact, he has worked with the state government in the past,” the Governor said.

“But I’m not going to sit as the governor of Kaduna state and allow anyone to post or tweet anything that leads to loss of lives without consequences.

“He posted fake pictures of Boko Haram attacks, Rwandan genocide, as Southern Kaduna killings. It is totally irresponsible to do that.

“Even when it was pointed out to him that the information was untrue, he still posted that he stood by his story.“He questioned the authenticity of the press statement. He was totally and completely irresponsible.”

Maikori, founder of one of Nigeria’s biggest music label, Chocolate City, was arrested by the police on February 17, over ‘inciting comments’ he made on twitter on the Southern Kaduna crisis.In the posts, seen by his followers on twitter numbering almost 67,000, Maikori alleged that five students of the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kafanchan, were murdered by Fulani herdsmen.

“My driver’s younger brother and five other students of College of Education, Gidan Waya, were ambushed and killed by herdsmen yesterday#SouthernKaduna,” he said in one of the tweets posted on January 23.

But the said College of Education later released a statement saying that no such attacks occurred in the school and that the names given as victims of the purported attack were fictitious.

Maikori later deleted the tweets and apologized, saying that he was mislead by his driver.