Coronavirus Fake news forced university students to travel on trailers

There was a mild and panic drama added to the scourge of coronavirus on Sunday as students of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti(FUOYE) embarked on journey to their various homes outside the town, following rumour that, no commercial vehicles would operates due to the emergence of the virus in  Ekiti State.

Penpushing reports that, the spread fake news through a whassap   was said to be misinterpretation of a memo, which reads, “No interstate bus will be allowed to come in and out of Ekiti State as from Monday 23rd of March. So you’re advice (sic) to travel before the stipulated date to avoid been stranded here.”

The fake memo allegedly signed by the “Ekiti State Commissioner for Road Transport.” which spread like wild fire  caused panic among students of the university, and resorted to travel in a truck, as alternative way of getting out hurriedly from the town

 Penpushing further reports that, thousands of the students besieged the major motor park around UBA in Oye, seeking vehicles to take them out of Oye-Ekiti, while earlier in the day some student representatives had liaised with the local motor park officials to ensure students travelling were not charged excessive fares.

The officials agreed that students travelling to Lagos would pay N2, 500, while those going to Ibadan and Abuja were charged N1, 500 and N3,000 respectively, but at about 9 a.m, there was a strange development.

Penpushing also reports that, the available vehicles were not enough to convey a quarter of the passengers, hence the drivers immediately took advantage of this by charging twice the normal fares, while some of the affected students shared their experiences

“I got to the park this morning by 6:12 a.m.  “You need to have seen the thousands of students there already. I waited under the sun until around 11 a.m. Before, the price was normal but the buses were limited. Later, they said Ibadan is N2500 and Lagos is N4000. People were still fighting for it. I was still not able to enter those ones. Later, there were no buses coming at all. I had to go back to my hostel and I will try again tomorrow”, Isaac-Orji Praise said

Penpushing reports that, a 4000 level student of Peace and Conflict Management Studies, Adedokun Abolore in his narration said students, thereafter stopped trailers headed to Ibadan and Lagos, explaining that, “the people in the trucks were instructed to pen down their names in case anything happened. The blue truck driver collected N500 from everybody and he will drop them in Lagos.”

“Now I can see the effect of misinformation. The message originated on WhatsApp with no authentication and this was the main reason why students are panicking and later resorted to what is currently happening in Oye”, he lamented

“It is very risky and I am disappointed this is coming from undergraduates. For God’s sake, they are literate enough to know what they are doing is dangerous. But at the same time,I won’t blame them. I will blame those elements of fake news.”

Penpushing further reports that the  Chief Press Secretary to the Ekiti State Governor,Yinka Oyebode,  while reacting to the development said, the false memo did not emanate from the state government, explaining that, ’the directive of Mr Governor is clear on the matter. Motorists are to obey some rules, including not putting more than three passengers on the back row seats and limit passengers on the front seat to one.”