The African Democratic Congress has challenged the All Progressives Congress to provide evidence for its allegation that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the opposition party planned to use deepfake videos and fabricated documents to discredit the APC presidential campaign rally in Kaduna.
The ADC also criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, arguing that rising living costs and declining purchasing power, rather than alleged opposition propaganda, were responsible for Nigerians’ dissatisfaction with the ruling party.
The Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, stated this in a statement on Saturday in response to an earlier allegation by the APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, Dele Alake.
Alake had accused Atiku and the ADC of planning to circulate artificial intelligence-generated videos, fake documents and misinformation to discredit the APC’s presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna.
The APC spokesperson also alleged that the opposition circulated a purported letter claiming that the Kaduna State Government approved ₦2.3tn to host the rally, alongside images and videos suggesting that security personnel had been deployed to protect campaign billboards.
However, Shaibu described the allegations as a desperate attempt to divert attention from the APC’s record in government, insisting that Alake had not provided evidence linking Atiku or the ADC to the alleged fabrications.
He said, “He accuses Atiku Abubakar and the ADC of a ‘devious plan,’ AI manipulation and deepfakes, yet offers no evidence linking them to the alleged letter or any fabricated video.
“This is the APC’s familiar script: make a reckless accusation, dress it up as certainty, then hope Nigerians stop asking questions.
“Alake should produce the evidence: names, dates and forensic findings. Until then, his ‘fake news alert’ is an empty political stunt.”
Shaibu argued that the APC did not need to blame the opposition for negative publicity, saying the administration’s performance was evident in the economic difficulties confronting Nigerians.
“No conspiracy is needed to expose the APC. Its own failures are visible in every market, filling station and household,” he said.
Citing petrol prices of about ₦1,400 per litre, diesel prices above ₦2,000 per litre and food inflation close to 20 per cent, he said the economic situation contradicted the ruling party’s claims of progress.
“More than half of Nigerians were living in poverty last year, according to the World Bank estimate reported by Reuters.
“These are the brutal consequences of an incompetent, callous and ruinous economic course. They are not fake news,” Shaibu added.
The ADC official also questioned the APC’s explanation that the security vehicle photographed near one of its campaign billboards in Kaduna was on routine patrol.
“Bola calls the vehicle near an APC billboard a ‘routine patrol.’ Nigerians can still ask why a campaign billboard needed protection,” he said.
Shaibu further referred to reports that APC supporters brought in from distant states for the rally had been left sleeping on the streets of Kaduna.
He also raised concerns over reports of an accident involving supporters travelling from Sokoto and Abuja to attend the rally, while acknowledging that details remained unconfirmed.
“More troubling still, reports have emerged of an accident involving APC supporters travelling from Sokoto and also from Abuja to the rally. Details remain unconfirmed, and the APC must urgently account for the passengers’ safety,” he said.
The ADC campaign official accused the ruling party of prioritising the appearance of a large crowd over the welfare of supporters transported to the rally.
“Making citizens endure long, hazardous journeys and sleep outdoors simply to create rally optics is political exploitation, not leadership,” he said.
“The APC cares more about the appearance of a crowd than the safety and dignity of the people it transports.”
Shaibu also questioned Tinubu’s campaign schedule, claiming that the President was campaigning in only 12 states because supporters were being moved from one rally venue to another.
He argued that the practice undermined the APC’s claim to widespread support across the country.
“Those journeys will consume meaningful time. Tinubu knows what happens if the crowd fails to reach the next destination: he may be left addressing empty seats—or, as the saying goes, talking to the birds,” he said.
Shaibu added, “A campaign that must transport its audience from state to state cannot pass off that audience as spontaneous nationwide support.”
He maintained that assembling crowds and displaying campaign billboards would not necessarily translate into electoral support for the ruling party.
“You can hire buses, assemble a crowd and plaster the streets with billboards. You cannot hire consent.
“Nigerians have endured the APC’s punishing prices, shrinking incomes and broken promises. No parade, press statement or insult can conceal their growing rejection of this record,” he said.
The ADC official also dismissed the APC’s attacks on Atiku as a distraction from the economic challenges facing households.
“The APC’s failures are sweeping, painful and indefensible. Its boastful promises have collapsed into a miserable reality of expensive food, unaffordable transport and families forced to make do with less.
“Alake’s attack on Atiku will not reduce the cost of a meal by one naira,” he said.
Shaibu expressed confidence that Nigerians would vote against the APC, accusing the party of clinging to power despite what he described as its poor performance.
“The real desperados are those clinging to power while the country burns. At the polls, Nigerians will reject this discredited record and defeat the APC. No volume of propaganda can talk the party out of the reckoning it has earned,” he said.