Delta Government on Sunday berated social media reports claiming that Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, was gutted by fire.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who addressed newsmen at the venue of the incident, said the alleged fire was blown out of proportion by the social media.
He said that the incident did not affect the stadium complex but some condemned roofing sheets that were removed from the building.
He said that the fire was not caused by any electrical connection or picture of any presidential candidate as “mischievously” reported by the man who recorded the video in circulation.
He, however, cautioned that Social Media was supposed to be a means of adding value to the information value chain and warned against using it to score some cheap political points.
According to him, the fire was caused by the drop from the welder’s electrode which fell on the condemned roofing sheets on the ground.
“I told you a few days ago that we are undertaking some renovation on this facility and while the welder was very busy working upstairs, the electrode that was actually more like a spark coming from the iron, fell on the condemned roofing sheets on the ground and it caught fire.
“The fire did not affect the stadium itself but unfortunately the heat that emanated from the fire melted some of the cladding on the wall of the stadium, not that the stadium itself caught fire.
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“It is the condemned roofing sheets that were removed from the roof which has become more like a waste and were yet to be evacuated from the premises of the stadium.
“The fire was extinguished by the workers on ground even before the arrival of the state fire service.”
“Evil propaganda does not pay anybody any good. We do know that we are in the period of intense politicking but to begin to wish the state evil, does not in anyway give us result.
“I say so because the nature of propaganda emanating from a lot of activities in recent times is becoming alarming.
“It is important to note that once the state successfully hosts the National Sports Festival, it is to the glory of everybody in Delta.
“Delta will benefit from transportation, entertainment, tourism and many other things associated with hosting events of that magnitude,” Aniagwu said.
He pleaded with Deltans to shun politics and support the state government in its efforts to host world class sports festival.
“As much as social media is wonderful and desirable, individuals must not continue to deploy it for negative reasons because the way it was reported is not what happened,” he said.
