Key highlights
- APC PCC denied media reports of a clandestine meeting between Tinubu and the Chief Justice of Nigeria in London
- It stated that Tinubu is in France to rest after a hectic political campaign and not in London.
- It also said that Tinubu left Nigeria on March 21, 2023, 10 clear days after the Chief Justice of Nigeria was alleged to have left Nigeria
The All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) has warned Nigerians to expect more fake news from a section of the media on the payroll of the opposition as the country moves towards May 29, 2023, the inauguration of Bola Tinubu as the president.
This is in reaction to media reports of a clandestine meeting between Tinubu and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, in London, which the campaign council has described as fabricated news, groundless in fact and authenticity.
This was made known by the Director, of Media and Publicity, APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, on Wednesday, March 23, 2023, where he insisted that the story is grossly fake, misleading and malicious.
The APC PCC stated that Tinubu is in France for a deserved rest after the hectic campaign schedule in the build-up to the general election and not in London as claimed by the report.
No secret meeting between Tinubu and CJN
The statement from Onanuga reads,
- ‘’Our attention has been drawn to the grossly fake, misleading and malicious story about the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola disguising to meet President-elect Bola Tinubu in London.
- ‘’The story was a pure concoction from the hallucinating minds of hatchet men bent on creating doubts and public distrust about the legitimacy of our recent election, which was won by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
- ‘’We refute emphatically that there has been no clandestine meeting between the President-elect and the respected Chief Justice of our country, anywhere. It’s pure fabricated news, groundless in fact and authenticity.
- ’To show that the story was a mere salacious fiction, meant to draw traffic to the discredited purveyor, it claimed the Chief Justice left Nigeria for London on 11 March, on a wheelchair to board a plane.
- ’The President-elect left Nigeria on 21 March, 10 clear days thereafter. What kind of appointment or secret meeting will the two men have arranged in London, with so wide disparate arrival dates, except in the imagination of the false news merchants?’’
Media urged to cross-check their information
- It added, ‘’We can confirm that the President-elect, who left Nigeria Tuesday has not been in London. He is right now in France to have a deserved rest, after a hectic campaign that began in January 2022. He will go to London thereafter before proceeding to Mecca for the lesser Hajj.
- ‘’As we move towards inauguration on 29 May 2023, Nigerians should expect more false and salacious news from a section of the Nigerian media, on the payroll of the opposition.
- ’We urge the media once again to cross-check their information from the President-elect media office before rushing to press.’’
What you should know
- Recall that there was a report from Peoples Gazette on March 23, that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, was sighted in London pretending to be a physically-challenged old man, in what Supreme Court sources said was a clandestine preparation for a meeting with President-elect Bola Tinubu.
- According to the report, Mr. Ariwoola departed Nigeria on March 11 via Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and was allegedly pushed in a wheelchair through the terminals to board a British Airways flight.
