NFF slams fake news on Plumptre, appeals to journalists to verify stories

By Amaechi Agbo

The Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday passionately appealed, once more, to media owners, media workers and persons in the public space to consistently make the effort to verify news items they see on social media or any public space before escalating the same to other spaces.
This further appeal comes against the background of a fake news item on Tuesday, propagated by an internet scamster who imagined and published on Facebook, a report that Super Falcons’ defender Ashley Plumptre was lamenting her exclusion from the Nigeria team ‘selected’ to defend the Women Africa Cup of Nations title at the 14th WAFCON taking place in Morocco 25th July – 16th August this year.
NFF’s Director of Competitions, Ruth David, cleared the air on the news item: “This is totally false. Last year, Ashley Plumptre made a video in which she categorically said that she is NOT on Facebook; that some fellows are impersonating her and that she has tried several times to bring down the page without success. Nothing has changed about her absence from Facebook; the player is not on Facebook and nobody should believe anything that emanates from the cloned account.
“The other issue is that the Coach has not submitted any list of players for the Women AFCON, so the scamster got it all wrong. The same scamster was at work some weeks ago stating that Esther Okoronkwo (a Super Falcons’ striker) made the same claims, when in fact the player was not invited for the Senegal friendly matches simply because she was nursing an injury.
“We recall that some time ago, there was a report that Asisat Oshoala (a Super Falcons’ striker) said she had retired from international football, which was patently false.
“We appeal to well-meaning individuals to double-check whatever news item they see anywhere before escalating the same to other spaces. The incidence of fake news has become overwhelming and it is important that media owners and media workers consistently verify what they push out there for the sake of their own integrity and credibility.”
Ashley Plumptre herself debunked the news item on Tuesday: “Awful false accounts. I’ve posted on my IG and X for people to report. They are using my identity and scamming people. I’m currently contacting someone in Saudi (Arabia) to help me take these accounts down because this has been happening for well over a year now.”