The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of plotting a disinformation campaign to undermine its presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna on Saturday.
In a statement, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Dele Alake, alleged that opposition figures were circulating misleading reports and a fabricated document to discredit President Bola Tinubu, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and the party’s leadership.
The statement disputed two items: a report suggesting security personnel had been deployed to protect APC campaign billboards, and a purported letter claiming that the Kaduna State Government had approved N2.3 trillion to host the rally.
Alake alleged that the material formed part of a coordinated opposition operation.
The statement, however, did not provide independent evidence establishing that Abubakar or the ADC had created or directed its circulation.
Their responses were not included in the material provided.
The first allegation concerned a photograph showing a security vehicle near an APC campaign billboard in Kaduna.
Alake said the vehicle was on routine patrol and had stopped at a junction near the billboard.
He accused opposition operatives of presenting the image as evidence that security personnel were guarding campaign advertisements.
According to the statement, an unnamed national newspaper published that account, which Abubakar subsequently shared through his official social-media channels.
The APC spokesperson characterised the sequence as coordinated.
Alake also rejected an online letter purportedly written by Sani to Senator Abdulaziz Yari, whom the statement identified as director-general of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
The document allegedly concerned the release of N2.3 trillion by the Kaduna State Government to host the campaign event.
Alake called the letter fabricated and argued that the amount exceeded the state’s combined budgets for three years.
We are baffled by how anyone could fabricate such a senseless and baseless lie that defies logic and common sense, asking what is the entire annual revenue of Kaduna State, or any state for that matter, that it would spend N2.3 trillion to host a rally?, the statement said.
The statement also cited Kaduna’s budgets as N458.271 billion for 2024, N790.439 billion for 2025 and N985.9 billion for 2026.
Those figures were presented by the APC to challenge the plausibility of the funding claim.
The PCC spokesperson further alleged that opposition operatives planned to circulate old footage, doctored videos and AI-generated deepfakes as the rally got under way, presenting them as evidence of public hostility toward the APC.
It urged Nigerians to scrutinise content circulating about the event and reject what the party described as an effort to manipulate public opinion.
It also said Atiku Abubakar and his ADC special-purpose vehicle cannot win any election and will resort to any despicable means to stay afloat in their desperate bid to grab power at all costs.
The APC’s statement amounts to a denial of the disputed accounts and an accusation against its political opponents—not independent verification of who produced or distributed the material.
We urge Nigerians to remain vigilant and reject their antics, the statement concluded.
