Atiku disowns video of 2019 presidential ambition

Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday distanced himself from an online video in which he declared his interest to take a shot at the presidency in the 2019 general elections.

Reacting to the video, which is now in circulation, Abubakar said it was the handiwork of his detractors keen on doing mischief, saying those behind it used a video clip extracted from his 2011 presidential declaration to create a false impression that he formally declared for the 2019 presidential election.

He advised those involved in such “laughable and unintelligent propaganda of lies and intentional mischief to find something useful to do with their time, instead of using his name to achieve their malicious political objectives.”

Describing those behind the fake video clip “as a group of incompetent and bumbling political novices who cannot see the loopholes in their own stories,” the former vice president advised the Nigerian press to be wary of uncritically lapping up fake news materials from groups that do not care about their own credibility.

He explained: “While fake news merchants don’t bother about ethics and their reputation, members of the press have more to lose if they take stories from such disreputable groups without verification.”

The Waziri Adamawa added that spreading false stories about any individual politician is not within the protected boundaries of free speech and urged the traditional media to take the first step by not helping fake news merchants to promote their agenda.