Akufo-Addo: Stop falsehood, Tinubu group tells Obi’s supporters
The Tinubu Campaign Organisation, on Wednesday, urged the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to call his supporters to order to avoid throwing the nation into chaos.
The appeal was coming in the wake of denial by the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, that he wrote a letter asking the presidential flagbearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, to give way for Obi to win the presidential election.
Akufo-Addo disclosed that he never told the former Lagos State governor to seek treatment for his health, as contained in the purported viral letter making the rounds on social media.
Refuting the allegation via his verified Twitter handle, the Ghanaian president wrote, “My attention has been drawn to a disturbing post making the rounds on social media, where it is alleged that I have written to the 2023 presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, to give Peter Obi a chance and seek treatment for his health.
“This is completely false and mischievous, with no iota of truth whatsoever in it.
“I have written no such letter to the APC leader, and it will not occur to me to do so. Ghana and Nigeria boast of decades of cordial, strong, and brotherly relations, and I am not going to be the one to interfere in the internal affairs and politics of Nigeria.”
Reacting to the mischief in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Director of Media and Communications, Bayo Onanuga, fingered Obi’s political movement ‘Obidients’ as the architect behind the malicious lies and image smearing campaign.
Onanuga admonished the Labour Party presidential candidate to call his supporters to order and allow the debates around the 2023 election to be about issues that would advance the growth, progress and stability of the country.
The TCO director further stated that an electoral process will be enriched only if the 2023 presidential campaign sticks to issues of good governance that would lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty instead of being dominated by the ravings of guttersnipes who don’t wish the country well.
Onanuga said, “We have found that the fake news about Akufo-Addo’s letter was first published on June 22 by a rogue platform, whose url reads as worlsnews.space (sic) and site identity as World of News.
“A content analysis of the site clearly showed that it is a Biafra news platform. The fake news was reposted on Facebook by Peter Obi Support Group, same day – a clear proof that Biafra campaigners and Peter Obi supporters are the same.
“Both the Facebook account and the website are replete with fake stories about Bola Tinubu, including a fake story credited to former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, alleging that Tinubu demanded N50 billion monthly payment from him.”
According to him, the spuriousness of the statement is in the evidence that Lagos did not begin to clock N50 billion revenue until after Ambode left office.
The former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria swore that Tinubu could not have demanded N50 billion monthly payment from Ambode when the state government didn’t make such in a month throughout the tenure of Mr. Ambode.
“The pirate website, which the Facebook account feeds on, also parades malicious fake news and headlines such as “I am old, but my blood is young, please vote for me – Tinubu begs youth.”
“There is also the most wicked of all headlines: When I become president, I will build more prison (sic) for Igbo’s and IPOB members – Tinubu.
“The big surprise in all of these is that all the headlines have no supporting stories, and clicking them may bring virus to your computer.
“We have come to a point where it becomes imperative to tell Mr. Obi to show leadership and disavow his supporters who are employing fake news and disinformation as deliberate tools to deceive and poison the minds of unsuspecting Nigerians,” he said.
