PDP’s Plot to Unleash Fake News Days on Elections – APC

The Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Mr. Bayo Onanuga, has warned Nigerians about the perceived sinister moves and orchestrated plans by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to unleash a wave of fake news, especially in Hausa language to defame, defame and delegitimize APC’s presidential candidate in the coming 2023; general elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC for Nigerians.

Onanuga raised the alarm on Sunday in a press statement personally signed by him and made available to reporters in Abuja, adding that “This bawdy campaign by the PDP has already been perfected with a dedicated team working day and night from the PDP National Headquarters. in Wadata house, Abuja.”

He further stated that “the party (PDP) has also recruited many social media actors to carry out the proxy smear campaign.

“We have uncovered this evil plot aimed at manipulating Nigerians and especially Northerners to paint Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in a bad light as the only way for PDP and its failing presidential campaign to stand a chance in the presidential election of February 25.

“We deem it necessary at this time to alert the minds of Nigerians to this malignant scheme which could create disharmony, ill-will and unnecessary crises with associated security implications in the country.

“PDP and their hired social media influencers have already started pushing their nefarious content through spoofing and using parodies of social media accounts of popular newspapers and blogs to spread fake news for the sole purpose of fooling gullible Nigerians. lead,” Onanuga said.

However, he pointed out that “many parodies of social media accounts such as ‘Vanguard Hausa’, ‘DailyTrust Hausa’ have been created and used to spread fake news on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other digital platforms.”

According to him, “On Facebook, we discovered that Daily Trust Hausa was first established as KRK 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“.

The statement said: “A second Facebook account of Daily Trust Hausa was created on August 13, 2022 as Facos News Hausa, for the purpose of publishing posts about musicians. It changed its name on December 29, 2022, just 22 days after its other clone, highlighting that “Vanguard Hausa was created on December 21, 2021. The website could not be accessed.”

The statement reads in parts: “All these parodies the PDP on Saturday used Facebook accounts to publish malicious fake news that trucks carrying old Naira notes from Tinubu were arrested in Lagos.”

According to him: “To clarify, Daily Trust does publish a Hausa newspaper called Aminiya, which is also on Facebook with the same name. We are not aware that Vanguard has a similar publication.

“We beg the two newspapers, Daily Trust and Vanguard, to inform Facebook and Meta that fake news vendors have cloned them for political offensives masterminded by PDP,” he claimed.

However, he stated that “part of the PDP’s malicious machinations will be to make false allegations and accusations against President Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu, his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima and other APC national, regional, zonal and state leaders in manipulated videos. , manipulated voiceovers, photoshop images and other means, all in an effort to win the election by whatever means necessary.”

Accordingly, he said, “PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, know they cannot win the upcoming election. They also know that Nigerians will never vote for PDP to take over the leadership of Nigeria after inflicting misery on Nigerians for 16 years.

“The legacies left by the party were insecurity, mismanaged economy, looted treasury, decayed national infrastructure in roads, power supply, ports, railways, pipelines and many others. The statement said that the Buhari government is still struggling to undo the enormous damage the party has done to our country.

“As Atiku’s presidential campaign heads for a crash, the PDP vainly hopes to avoid imminent electoral defeat by sponsoring a coordinated fake news attack on APC, our presidential candidate and even against the government.

“We use this medium to urge Nigerians and especially our compatriots in Northern Nigeria not to be misled.

“Atiku and PDP have nothing good to offer the Nigerians except his rabid ambition to enrich himself, his relatives and cronies, as revealed in audio and video leaks by Atiku’s former media assistant, Mike Achimugu, Onanuga said.

However, the statement explained that “President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC government is working very hard to solve many of Nigeria’s decades-long problems in various sectors, and it is only another APC government of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima that can continue, support and improve the process of good governance that has been initiated since 2015”.