•Report by Kamil Opeyemi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denied an audio recording purported to be the voices of its Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and two others planning to rig the elections.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba in Abuja on Friday, called on Nigerians and the international community “to utterly disregard the simulated audio”.
Ologunagba described the purported audio claimed to be the voices of Abubakar, his running mate, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa and the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, as “another pathetical fabrication”.
He alleged that the fake audio recording was evidently part of the design of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which recruited hackers to produce and circulate fake media materials.
He said the aim was to demonise the PDP and its candidate before Nigerians, ahead of the polls.
“From the manipulated sound speed and pitch, it is clear that the recording was computer-created and simulated to blackmail our leaders and deceive unsuspecting members of the public.
“It is laughable for the APC to want Nigerians to believe that Abubakar, Okowa and Tambuwal who know themselves, can be calling their own names in a conversation as heard in the fake audio recording.
“Such further betrays the recording as an amateur simulation work,” Ologunagba said in the statement.
He said the attempt to fool Nigerians by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to clone and mimic the voices of the PDP leaders had failed.
He said that Nigerians were smart enough to detect the distorted wave forms and sound pitch that typify an AI-simulated speech.
“The fact is that no matter how hard falsehood attempts to thrive, the truth will always prevail,” he said.
Ologunagba said that PDP was ready for Saturday elections and would not be deterred or distracted by such audio manipulation.
He urged security agencies to take urgent steps to track down the makers of the fake audio material and make them face the wrath of the law.