Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) has debunked reports that N400 billion was recovered when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the home of its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
This was even as the campaign council called for the arrest of the online publisher who circulated the story.
The APC PCC rebuttal came after the EFCC also denied carrying out any raid on the residence of the former Lagos State governor.
On Sunday, an online platform had claimed in a report, that Tinubu forfeited N400 billion old naira notes to operatives of the EFCC after one of his underground homes was raided.
The news gained traction on social media before it was refuted by the anti-corruption agency on Sunday.
Denying the reports in a statement, the spokesperson for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, urged Nigerians to disregard it as fake news.
A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga, said that the campaign council had discovered that “the rogue website” was set up to disseminate false and malicious information against his principal.
Onanuga frowned at the story, which he said lacked the essential of “when, where and how,” which make up the ingredients of any news story.
Applauding the EFCC for promptly dissociating itself from the fake story by issuing a formal statement on the purported raid by its men, he urged security agencies in the country to go after the owners.
“We urge the authorities to fish out the people behind the site that is recklessly dishing out fake news before more damage is done to our polity. We want to warn Nigerians to be wary of every piece of news emanating from the site, and its social media handles.
“There will be many of such sites as some candidates become desperate to win at all costs, in fulfilment of some rogue and rigged opinion polls, shunning all decent norms and rules.
“The dubious website, in its fake story, claimed investigations are still ongoing as to which bank manager made such money available to Tinubu, it then admitted its own absurdity when it wrote that ‘the money recovered in Tinubu’s underground house’ is equivalent of ‘the entire money printed for the whole Nigeria’ by the CBN.
“So, if Tinubu alone has all the money printed by Godwin Emefiele’s CBN, how do you account for the billions distributed by the apex bank to all the banks, including operators of PoS? The site, which, on Twitter and Facebook, appears to have links with the Labour Party, went further, in another post, to claim that President Muhammadu had ordered the arrest of the bank manager that made the phantom money available to the APC candidate,” the statement said.
