APC says Atiku, ADC planning fake videos to spoil Kaduna rally
- The APC campaign council says Atiku Abubakar and the ADC plan to use fake videos and documents against its Kaduna rally.
- It dismissed a letter claiming Kaduna released ₦2.3 trillion for the rally as fake.
- The APC did not provide evidence that Atiku or the ADC directed the alleged operations.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council says it has found a plan by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to undermine its presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna on Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, the council's spokesperson, Dele Alake, alleged that the opposition intends to use fake videos made with artificial intelligence, altered documents and misleading social media posts to make the rally look unpopular.
The rally is expected to draw President Bola Tinubu and is seen as a show of strength by the ruling party in the North. The council said the alleged plan targets Tinubu, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani and other APC leaders.
The APC did not release evidence showing that Atiku or the ADC directed any such operation.
What the APC is disputing
Alake pointed to two things already circulating online. The first is a photograph of a security vehicle parked near an APC billboard in Kaduna. He said the vehicle was on a routine patrol, but the picture was shared with a claim that security agents had been posted to guard campaign materials.
He alleged that a national newspaper carried the account and that Atiku then shared it on his social media pages.
The second is a letter said to be from Governor Uba Sani to the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari. The letter claims the Kaduna State Government released ₦2.3 trillion to host the rally.
Alake said the letter is fake and the figure makes no sense. He put Kaduna's budgets at ₦458.271 billion for 2024, ₦790.439 billion for 2025 and ₦985.9 billion for 2026, adding that the three years together come to less than the amount in the letter.
"The ₦2.3 trillion that Atiku and his hirelings are circulating online is more than Kaduna State's annual budget for three years," Alake said.
He also warned that more old or edited videos could surface during the rally, showing residents supposedly rejecting the APC. He asked Nigerians to check what they see online before sharing it.
The council went further, saying Atiku and the ADC cannot win an election and would use any method to seek power. That is the APC's opinion, not a finding by any court or electoral body.
What happens next
The Kaduna rally goes ahead on Saturday with President Tinubu expected. How the crowd is reported, and how both camps react afterwards, will shape the argument over the coming days.
For ordinary Nigerians, the dispute matters because it touches on public money. Kaduna's budgets are public documents, and voters can check claims about spending against the figures released by the state.
