*Dele Alake.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) of allegedly orchestrating a disinformation campaign to discredit the party’s presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna on Saturday.
The council alleged that the former vice president and the ADC planned to circulate fake news, doctored documents and deepfake videos to undermine the campaign rally, President Bola Tinubu, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and other APC leaders.
The allegations were contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the council’s spokesperson, Dele Alake, who said the alleged plot involved the use of artificial intelligence, manipulated images and fabricated documents to influence public opinion.
According to Alake, the alleged disinformation campaign began with the circulation of a photograph showing a security vehicle on routine patrol at a junction near an APC campaign billboard in Kaduna metropolis.
He claimed that the image was subsequently presented as evidence that security agents had been deployed to protect APC billboards in the state.
Alake further alleged that a national newspaper published the account, after which Atiku shared the report on his official social media platforms to attract public attention.
The APC spokesperson also accused the former vice president and alleged ADC operatives of circulating a purported letter said to have been written by Governor Uba Sani to the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari.
The purported letter allegedly claimed that the Kaduna State Government had released N2.3 trillion to host the APC campaign rally.
Describing the claim as false, Alake questioned the plausibility of a state government spending such an amount on a political rally.
He cited Kaduna State’s budgets for 2024, 2025 and 2026 as N458.271 billion, N790.439 billion and N985.9 billion, respectively, arguing that their combined value remained below N2.3 trillion.
According to him, the figure being circulated was greater than the state’s total budgetary allocations for the three years combined.
The council also alleged that old footage, doctored recordings and deepfake videos could be circulated during the rally to create the impression that residents were opposed to the APC campaign.
Alake said the statement was intended to alert Nigerians to what the council described as a planned attempt to mislead the public and damage the party’s image as its campaign activities commenced in Kaduna.
He urged members of the public to exercise caution when consuming political information, particularly content shared on social media, and to verify the authenticity of reports and documents before circulating them.