The All Progressives Congress (APC) says no amount of fake news can save Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from defeat in the 2023 general elections.
Its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, said in a statement on Tuesday in Ibadan, that PDP was allegedly behind the spread of fake news purportedly issued by one Alhaji Bashir Adeola, a Chieftain of APC in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that APC was reacting to a news report which claimed that Adeola, a spoke in condemnation of his party to favour PDP.
The APC spokesperson dismissed the said news as fake, saying that the name, Bashir Adeola, was a fictitious name.
According to him, the report was the handiwork of some desperados in power who had been overwhelmed by the political fireworks of Oyo APC as demonstrated in the last few months.
“We have painstakingly checked our party membership register and found no member by the name Bashiru Adeola.
“We, then wonder where the PDP media got the ghost to speak with them as a chieftain of Oyo APC,” he said.
Sadare said that no amount of such sponsored fake news as well as unsubtantiated claims against the opposition would stop Makinde and PDP from imminent sack in the forthcoming general elections.
He said that some funny characters around the governor felt that “this was the best way to mitigate the effects of political affliction befalling their administration and party every day”.
Sadare said that PDP felt it was an unhealthy development to keep losing its members and supporters to the opposition.
He said that Makinde has nobody to blame for the development, adding he could not eat his cake and have it.
“A governor who neither does well with governance, nor runs an all-inclusive government cannot have the trust of serious politicians and voters.
“They just package their usual lies and put fictitious names as the source whereas the so-called Bashir Adeola was without a known Ward, Local Government Area or traceable residence or office address.
“They came up with the latest spurious story aimed at discrediting APC in an attempt to water down the adverse effect of Hon. Olusegun Olaleye’s defection to the APC,” he said.
The APC spokesperson said that Olaleye had only retraced his step as he returned to the progressive fold few days after hundreds of PDP leaders and members left the party for APC in Oyo Federal Constituency.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we do not have any member or chieftain who bears the name mentioned and it is safe to say that the story was sponsored by the PDP to mislead the public.
“We are focussed on our electioneering campaigns as a serious political party whose candidates have all it takes to win the forthcoming elections in the state,” he said.
Sadare urged the electorate to disregard myriad of fake news being churned out to create soft landing for Makinde, who had already lost his reelection bid before the day of the poll.