The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday charged the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
federal government to seek forgiveness from Nigerians for allegedly
purveying fake news in our country.
PDP in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola
Ologbondiyan yesterday, stated that “the Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, should lead the government and his APC
to do the needful, instead of the lame attempts at whitewashing the
government and his party, even when Nigerians know that they are
behind the escalation of fake news in Nigeria.
“Nigerians are aware that the phenomenon of fake news exploded to the
current frightening proportion in Nigeria due to the desperation of
the APC, whose spokespersons deliberately promoted outright lies, hate
speech, insults and threats of violence as tools to gain political
power, during the run-up to the 2015 general elections.
“The APC and its officials literarily fouled our media space by
deliberately entrenching falsehood, fabrications, uncouth language and
abuses as “acceptable’ modes of engagement, particularly in the social
media.
“The APC and the Buhari federal government misled and have been
misleading the media and the public by stating outright lies, half
truths and fabrications in their statements and claims about
governance, individuals and the opposition.
“Nigerians are witnesses to several false performance claims by the
APC-led federal government including phony political cum economic
recovery and infrastructure development claims, which they project to
be factual, even when the reality points to the contrary.
“Recently, the APC purveyed fake news in its declaration of President
Buhari as winner of APC presidential primary with fictitious 14.8
million votes, even when there was no contest and no ballot cast.
“The deliberate deployment of fake news by the APC in its attempt to
smear the PDP and its members, ended up de marketing our country in
the international arena and eroded the confidence the world had on our
markets and business concerns, resulting in the current dearth of
investments, collapse of businesses, job losses and drop in national
productivity,” the party said.
