The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) has said it had uncovered plans by main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fill the media space with fake news and disinformation about the forthcoming general election.
The ruling party’s campaign council alleged that the PDP is planning to use fake news in Hausa to malign, defame and illegitimise the party and its flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ahead of the polls.
A statement yesterday in Abuja by APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, said the PDP perfected the alleged plot with a team working from the main opposition party’s national headquarters at Wadata House in Abuja.
The statement said: “We uncovered this evil plot targeted to manipulate Nigerians and most especially Northerners to see Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in a bad light as the only way for PDP and its failing presidential campaign to have a chance at the February 25 presidential election.
“We consider it necessary at this point to alert the minds of Nigerians to this evil plan capable of causing disharmony, ill-will and needless crisis with attendant security implications in the country.”
The ruling party’s campaign council added: “The PDP and their hired social media influencers have already started pushing their nefarious contents by spoofing and using parody social media accounts of popular newspapers and blogs to disseminate fake news with the sole aim of hoodwinking gullible Nigerians.
“Many parody social media accounts, such as Vanguard Hausa, and Daily Trust Hausa, have been created and are also being used to circulate fake news on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other digital platforms.
“On Facebook, we found that Daily Trust Hausa was first created as K.R.K Media on August 9, 2021. It changed its name to Daily Trust Media on December 7, 2022 and has a fake website address: daily.com.
“A second Daily Trust Hausa Facebook account was created on August 13, 2022 as Facos News Hausa, with the objective of publishing posts on musicians. It changed its name on December 29, 2022, just 22 days after its other clone.
“Vanguard Hausa was created on December 21, 2021. Its website failed to open.
“All these parodies’ Facebook accounts were used by the PDP on Saturday to publish malicious fake news that trucks carrying old naira notes belonging to Asiwaju Tinubu were arrested in Lagos.
“For clarification, Daily Trust does publish a Hausa paper called Aminiya, which is also on Facebook with the same name. We are not aware that Vanguard has a similar publication.”
The APC campaign council urged the two newspapers – Daily Trust and Vanguard – to inform Facebook and Meta of their accounts being cloned by fake news merchants, for political offensives, masterminded by the PDP.
Exposing the plot further, the APC PCC wrote: “Part of the PDP’s evil machinations will be to make false claims and allegations against President Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu, his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and other APC national, regional, zonal and state leaders in manipulated videos, doctored voice-overs, photo-shop images and other means, all in a bid to win the election by hook or crook.
“PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, know they can’t win this coming election. They also know Nigerians will never vote for PDP to take over the leadership of Nigeria after inflicting 16 years of misery on Nigerians.
“The legacies the party left behind are insecurity, badly managed economy, looted treasury, derelict national infrastructure in roads, power, ports, rail, pipelines, among many others. The Buhari administration is still struggling to unmake the massive damage done to our country by the party.
“Because Atiku’s presidential campaign is heading to a crash, PDP futilely hopes to avoid the impending electoral defeat by sponsoring a coordinated fake news assault on APC, our presidential candidate, and even against the government.”
The ruling party urged Nigerians and, most especially, compatriots in Northern Nigeria not to allow themselves to be deceived.
“Atiku and PDP have nothing good to offer Nigerians other than his rabid ambition to enrich himself, family members and cronies as revealed in audio and video leaks by his former Media Aide, Mike Achimugu.
“The APC administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is working very hard to solve many of Nigeria’s decades-long problems across sectors and it is only another APC administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima that can continue, sustain and improve on the trajectory of good governance that began from 2015.”