The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has accused former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of allegedly orchestrating a disinformation campaign to undermine President Bola Tinubu’s presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna.
In a statement, the council’s spokesperson, Dele Alake, alleged that the opposition was planning to circulate fabricated documents, manipulated images and artificial intelligence-generated videos to discredit the rally, President Tinubu, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and other APC leaders.
The council, which described the alleged operation as a coordinated attempt to mislead the public, claimed that the campaign had already begun with the circulation of an image showing a security vehicle stationed near an APC campaign billboard in Kaduna metropolis.
According to Alake, opposition figures had allegedly misrepresented the image as evidence that security personnel were deployed to protect the party’s billboards.
He also accused Atiku of amplifying the report on his social media accounts after it appeared in a national newspaper.
The APC campaign council further alleged that another document had been circulated online, purportedly showing a letter from Governor Uba Sani to the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, concerning an alleged release of ₦2.3 trillion by the Kaduna State Government to host the rally.
Alake dismissed the purported letter as fabricated, arguing that the amount was inconsistent with the state’s budgetary figures.
To support his position, he cited Kaduna State’s budgets of ₦458.271 billion for 2024, ₦790.439 billion for 2025 and ₦985.9 billion for 2026, insisting that their combined total was below the alleged ₦2.3 trillion expenditure.
The council also warned of what it described as a possible attempt to circulate old footage, doctored images and deepfake videos during the rally to create a false impression of public dissatisfaction with the APC.
It urged Nigerians to exercise caution when consuming political content on social media and to reject what it called deliberate attempts to manipulate public opinion.
Alake accused Atiku and the ADC of seeking to discredit the ruling party through misinformation, while expressing confidence in the APC’s political prospects.
The allegations were contained in a statement titled “Fake News Alert: Atiku Abubakar and ADC’s Plot to Discredit APC Presidential Campaign Flag-Off in Kaduna.”
However, the statement did not provide publicly verifiable forensic evidence linking Atiku or the ADC to the alleged fabricated letter or planned deepfake videos.
Meanwhile, the ADC had separately rejected the APC’s accusations, describing them as an attempt to divert attention from the ruling party’s record in government.
