APC, PDP urge supporters to beware of subterfuge, fake news

Less than a week to general elections, spokespersons of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have issued statements, warning their supporters to beware deceptive information.

Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant on Public Communications to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, warned: “It is one week to the election, and expectedly, campaigns have reached fever pitch. But amid the excitement and tension, voters must guard their hearts jealously, as the ruling APC will try to use every subterfuge and stratagem in its manual to deceive them once more.”

He added that Nigerians must not let themselves be deceived by renewed hopelessness, disguised as renewed hope.

Shaibu said as part of a grand deception, APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who started his campaign mid-last year with a promise to continue with President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacy, has, in the last three weeks, been promising to reverse them.

He asked Tinubu to make up his mind whether he is running on Buhari’s legacy or running against it, so as not to deceive innocent voters.
On its part, the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) cautioned Nigerians on “opposition’s rogue website, social media handles spreading fake news on Tinubu.”

APC-PCC Director (Media & Publicity), Bayo Onanuga, said the Council stumbled on a rogue website, out to disseminate false and malicious information about Tinubu.

He said: “In its latest false news, the site claimed that some Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives, on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari, raided the ‘underground home’ of Tinubu. It claimed that N400 billion of new notes were recovered there. The story, which notably lacked the essential ‘when, where and how’ ingredients of any news story, went viral.
“The EFCC has since issued a formal statement on the purported raid by its men as a fake story the public should disregard.”

He said: “We want to warn Nigerians to be wary of every piece of news emanating from the site, and its social media handles.
“There will be many of such sites, as some candidates become desperate to win at all costs, in fulfilment of some rogue and rigged opinion polls by ANAP Foundation and Nextier, shunning all decent norms and rules.
“We are not surprised that the opposition has embarked on sponsoring a website and social media handles, whose owners are unknown and which lacks physical address or even an email.
“We urge the authorities to fish out the people behind the site that are recklessly dishing out fake news, before more damage is done to our polity.”