The war of attrition between the ruling All Progressive Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party continued at the weekend with allegations and counter-allegations over the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
A viral statement alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission had commenced probe into drugs deal against Tinubu had sparked fresh row with the Tinubu campaign describing the statement as figment of the imagination of the APC candidate’s traducers.
INEC had however described the statement purportedly emanating from it as fake saying at no time has it commenced any investigation of Tinubu over drugs related offences in the United States.
The Tinubu’s camp was fully vindicated after the Arise Television which aired the alleged fake press release came publicly to apologise over its error.
The APC, in its response, accused the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar of being brains behind the fake press release.
Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media of the Tinubu campaign, had said, “The opposition Peoples Democratic Party and its subsidiary, Labour Party, having realised they have no sure path to victory in the February 2023 presidential election, upped their campaign of calumny, disinformation and misinformation on Saturday by sponsoring fake news against the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“They did it by forging the letterhead of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the signature of its national commissioner, Festus Okoye,” said Onanuga.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Sunday, Debo Ologunagba, PDP National Publicity Secretary, accused Tinubu’s APC of sponsoring violence against Atiku wherever he goes for campaigns.
“The APC is busy scheming to create tension, induce violence, frustrate the conduct of the 2023 general elections and derail our democratic process, having realized that it does not have an eligible Presidential Candidate for the polls,” Ologunagba said
But despite INEC’s refutal of the said statement, the PDP spokesman had still gone ahead of make reference to the narcotic deals saying for this, “Tinubu is irredeemably and hopelessly ineligible to contest the February 2023 Presidential election having been reportedly indicted and subjected to criminal forfeiture judgement for a narcotic related offence by a United States Court in Northern Illinois.”
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Ologunagba said Tinubu was “trying to pull a wool over the eyes of the Nigerians people” adding this is “after admitting that there was a $460,000 drug money criminal forfeiture judgment against accounts traced to the APC Presidential Candidate.”