The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council has dismissed the All Progressives Congress (APC) claim that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is plotting to discredit its presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna with fake news and deepfakes.
In a statement on Saturday by its Director of Strategic Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ADC described the allegation by APC campaign spokesperson, Dele Alake, as a “desperate and hollow smokescreen from a campaign terrified of its own record.”
Alake had earlier accused Atiku and the ADC of orchestrating a plan to circulate fake news, AI-manipulated videos and a counterfeit letter claiming Kaduna State released N2.3 trillion to host the APC rally.
Responding, Shaibu said Alake offered no evidence linking Atiku or the ADC to the alleged letter or any fabricated video.
“This is the APC’s familiar script: make a reckless accusation, dress it up as certainty, then hope Nigerians stop asking questions. Alake should produce the evidence: names, dates and forensic findings. Until then, his ‘fake news alert’ is an empty political stunt,” he said.
The ADC said no conspiracy was needed to expose the APC, arguing that its failures are visible in every market and household.
“Petrol is around ₦1,400 a litre; diesel has topped ₦2,000; food inflation remains close to 20 per cent. More than half of Nigerians were living in poverty last year, according to the World Bank estimate reported by Reuters. These are the brutal consequences of an incompetent, callous and ruinous economic course. They are not fake news,” Shaibu said.
He faulted the APC’s explanation that a security vehicle spotted near its campaign billboard in Kaduna was on routine patrol, saying Nigerians can still ask why a billboard needed protection.
Shaibu also alleged that supporters were brought in from distant states and left sleeping on Kaduna’s streets, and cited reports of accidents involving APC supporters travelling from Sokoto and Abuja to the rally.
“Details remain unconfirmed, and the APC must urgently account for the passengers’ safety. Making citizens endure long, hazardous journeys and sleep outdoors simply to create rally optics is political exploitation, not leadership,” he said.
He further claimed the APC’s decision to campaign in only 12 states suggests the same supporters are being moved from one rally to another.
“Perhaps this also explains why Tinubu is campaigning in only 12 states. The same supporters must be moved from one rally to the next, along roads his government has left in disrepair,” Shaibu said, adding that “a campaign that must transport its audience from state to state cannot pass off that audience as spontaneous nationwide support.”
“You can hire buses, assemble a crowd and plaster the streets with billboards. You cannot hire consent. Nigerians have endured the APC’s punishing prices, shrinking incomes and broken promises,” he said.
The ADC campaign council said the 2027 election would be a referendum on the APC’s record.
“The real desperados are those clinging to power while the country burns. At the polls, Nigerians will reject this discredited record and defeat the APC. No volume of propaganda can talk the party out of the reckoning it has earned. Bola made life expensive; Atiku will make Nigeria affordable again,” Shaibu added.
