‘Height of desperation’ — aide asks Nigerians to ignore ‘manipulated’ audio about Atiku

Phrank Shaibu, special assistant on public communications to Atiku Abubakar has asked Nigerians to disregard an audio recording circulating on social media about his principal.

In the audio recording which has now gone viral, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly discussed plans to rig the presidential election with Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto; and Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta.

A fact check by TheCable confirmed that the circulating audio has been doctored to mislead.

In a statement issued on Friday, Shaibu said the doctored audio in circulation aligns with his recent warning that the “opposition would deepen its propaganda ahead of the election”.

Shaibu described the audio clip as fake and intended to discredit Abubakar.

“We warned last week that as the election approaches, there will be a spike in the rate of propaganda on social media,” the statement reads.

“With barely 24 hours to the poll, we have witnessed propaganda from not just the All Progressives Congress (APC), but the Labour Party (LP) as well.

“In this latest drivel, a montage of speeches delivered by Atiku, Tambuwal, and Okowa since last year were manipulated and pieced together to give an impression that they were discussing plans to rig Saturday’s election. In this age of artificial intelligence technology, even dead people can be portrayed as delivering speeches. This is nothing new.

“For the record, Atiku has run in two presidential elections and has never been indicted or prosecuted for election violence or vote buying.

“But some people think they can sell a narrative of Atiku manipulating this election. This is indeed the height of desperation, the last kick of a dying horse. The APC and the Labour Party must note that elections are not won on social media but at the polling units.”

Shaibu said the audio recording can easily be identified as “fake even from the tone of the purported discussants”.

“It is unfortunate that those seeking power will engage in outdated defeatist tactics. How can Tambuwal be referring to Atiku by his full name in a one-on-one private conversation? This is nonsensical, similar to the type of meaningless chatter about President Muhammadu Buhari being dead and replaced by one Jubril from Sudan,” he said.

“When they descend to the level of baseless propaganda, we will rise above it with dignity and respond with our PVCs. This election is a watershed in Nigerian history. Nigerians must not lose sight of what is most important, which is the need to rebuild this broken system, revitalize the economy, and improve security and the hope of the people in a united Nigeria.”

Shaibu asked security agencies to investigate and prosecute those behind the audio recording in line with the electoral law.