Atiku, ADC plotting to discredit APC campaign flag off

By Jude Opara

The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of planning to discredit the party’s campaign flag off which holds today in Kaduna.

Spokesman of the PCC, Dele Alake in a statement on Saturday said Atiku and his party are using subterfuge and mindless propaganda to perfect their plans of misinforming and disinforming the public, manipulate public opinion through fake news operations and planting of false news in mainstream news platforms and social media.

He added that the duo planned to the use of Artificial Intelligence, deep fake videos, and counterfeit documents, all in a bid to discredit the APC rally in Kaduna, President Bola Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani, and leaders of our party.

According to him, Atiku and his party has alleged that the APC was deploying security operatives to man guidance for political billboards.

“In the last 24 hours, we have seen these tactics deployed to mislead the unsuspecting public. It began with the mischievous release of a picture of a security vehicle on a routine patrol, innocuously stationed at a junction near one of APC’s numerous campaign billboards in Kaduna metropolis.

“Atiku and the ADC propaganda machinery twisted the narrative, claiming the security agents were there to protect the APC billboards in Kaduna. They then planted the story in a national newspaper known for its anti-government and anti-APC editorial stance.

“Immediately after the newspaper published the fake, distorted story, Atiku Abubakar, in a coordinated manner, latched onto it and shared it on his official social media handles to generate traffic and trends”.

The Minister of Solid Minerals further accused Atiku and the ADC of spreading another falsehood that the Kaduna state government is spending the sum of N2.3 trillion to host the campaign flag off.

“Not too long after the first episode of the well-choreographed plot, Atiku Abubakar and ADC agents of disinformation released another fake letter online purportedly written by Governor Uba Sani and addressed to the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, on the release of N2.3 trillion by the Kaduna State Government to host the APC rally.

“We are still at a loss as to how anyone can imagine and concoct this senseless and utterly baseless lie that defies logic and basic common sense. How much is the entire annual revenue of Kaduna State, or any state, for that matter, that a state would spend N2.3 trillion to host a rally?

“The N2.3 trillion that Atiku and his hirelings are circulating online is more than Kaduna State’s annual budget for three years”.

He said the two scenarios are a part of the alleged plan by the ADC and Atiku to discredit the APC and its presidential candidate, President Bola Tinubu by circulating old and doctored videos to mislead the people.