The All Progressives’ Congress Campaign Council (PCC) has rebuffed a claim that a sum of N400 billion was recovered when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) raided the home of its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This was even as the Campaign Council called for the arrest of the online publisher who circulated the claim.
The APC PCC rebuff came after the EFCC denied carrying out a raid on the residence of the former Lagos State governor,Tinubu
Meanwhile, an online news platform claimed circulated on Sunday with a report, that Tinubu forfeited N400bn 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 rebuffed by the anti-corruption agency later in the day.
Denying the reports in a tweet via its Twitter handle, the spokesperson of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, urged Nigerians to disregard the news reports as fake.
A statement signed by the Director of PCC Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, also noted that the campaign council has discovered that “the mushroom website” was set up to disseminate false and malicious information against his principal.
Onanuga frowned on the story, which he stated lacked the essentialness of good news reporting to include the 5w’ and H “when, where, what, why, which 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, the former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria urged security agencies in the country to go after the owner of the news website as to serve a deterrent to others.
He said, “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.”, he stated.
