The Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Bayo Onanuga has denied in strong terms the reports that went viral which alleged that Bola Ahmed Tinubu held a secret meeting with the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola in London, describing the report as grossly fake, misleading and malicious.
The report claimed that the CJN disguised to meet Tinubu in London, arriving there in a wheelchair and checking in to an unknown hotel.
Onanuga stated that no such meeting was held between the two leaders pointing out that the concoction must have been issued from the hallucinating minds of hatchet men bent on creating doubts and public distrust about the legitimacy of the recent election won by his principal.
The text from Onanuga reads:
“Our attention has been drawn to the grossly fake, misleading and malicious story about the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola disguising to meet President-elect Bola Tinubu in London.
“The story was a pure concoction from the hallucinating minds of hatchet men bent on creating doubts and public distrust about the legitimacy of our recent election, which was won by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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‘We refute emphatically that there has been no clandestine meeting between the President-elect and the respected Chief Justice of our country, anywhere. It’s pure fabricated news, groundless in fact and authenticity.
‘To show that the story was a mere salacious fiction, meant to draw traffic to the discredited purveyor, it claimed the Chief Justice left Nigeria for London on 11 March, on a wheelchair to board a plane.
‘The President-elect left Nigeria on 21 March, 10 clear days thereafter. What kind of appointment or secret meeting will the two men have arranged in London, with so wide disparate arrival dates, except in the imagination of the false news merchants?’
While confirming that Tinubu who left Nigeria on Tuesday bound for France was there for a deserved rest, he, however, disclosed that the President-elect would be in London before heading to Saudi for the lesser Hajj.
Ahead of the swaering-in, Onanuga warned that more of such fake news would hit the airwaves even as he urged the media to crosscheck their facts
‘We can confirm that the President-elect, who left Nigeria Tuesday has not been in London.
He is right now in France to have a deserved rest, after a hectic campaign that began in January 2022.
‘He will go to London thereafter before proceeding to Mecca for the lesser Hajj.
‘As we move towards inauguration on May 29, 2023, Nigerians should expect more of false and salacious news from a section of the Nigerian media, on the payroll of the opposition.
‘We urge the media once again to cross-check their information from the President-elect media office before rushing to press’.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Nigerians have continued to react the story which is yet to be verified.