Datti Baba-Ahmed dissociates self from social media accounts opened in his name

Datti Baba-Ahmed, vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has disassociated himself from social media accounts attributed to him.

Speaking on Monday at a media briefing in Abuja, Baba-Ahmed described the accounts as fake, adding that he has not been on social media for about a decade.

He said some suspected impostors opened various social media accounts in his name without his knowledge or approval.

According to him, since there were indications he would join the LP, more social media accounts have been opened in his name, “in most cases misspelled or in wrong format”.

He said complaints were duly lodged and registered with the relevant host platforms to no avail.

“I hereby dissociate my humble self from the creation, ownership and operation of any such social media accounts,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“I equally declare that all exchanges and communications therefrom are without my knowledge or input in any way whatsoever.

“I humbly call on the general public on and offline to disregard any and all exchanges and communications from the fake social media accounts.”

He also called on social media platforms owners, creators and operators to “realise the dangers their highly valued technologies portend to the society”, and urged them to rise to the challenge of preventing further creation and use of fake accounts on social media.

“I call on the discerning general public, particularly our dear #Obidient and #Yusful followers to exercise patience until the resolution of these complaints after which we genuinely communicate towards rescuing Nigeria,” he said.

He also cited a reference to the negative impact of such fake social media handles, regarding an incident that occurred after he withdrew from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kaduna governorship primary on the grounds of divergent principles.

“From June 25, I began receiving indications of a possible calling to serve my nation again, this time under LP which culminated in my unveiling as the vice-presidential candidate of the party on July 8,” he said.

“I was interviewed by BBC immediately after the event, only to find contents of the said interview misrepresented by another social media page.

“A complaint was immediately made and this page eventually removed the misrepresented news article but only after much damage had been done.

“I must acknowledge and appreciate the diligence of well-meaning followers who were quick to observe and object to these accounts on basis of their good knowledge of me.”

He said some of the communications were designed to set him against legitimate and established responsible religious organisations, adding that in some cases, they portrayed him negatively in relation to certain sentiments and core societal values.

“There is sufficient justification to conclude that those unholy acts against a real change agent at a politically-sensitive period may be sponsored by opponents and enemies of progress,” he added.

“This is to disparage me or stain my image and distract the party from the noble objective of rescuing Nigeria.”