The Director, Media and Publicity, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, on Friday, cleared the air on a viral photo allegedly of the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Tinubu.
The photo showed an old man who looked like Tinubu being assisted by a white caregiver to get up from bed.
Tinubu’s absence from Thursday’s official signing of a peace pact by political parties and presidential candidates had sparked rumours about his whereabouts.
Onanuga, in a statement sent to Saturday PUNCH on Friday evening, said Tinubu was resting in his London home and preparing for the ‘gruelling’ campaigns.
He said, “Here is a fake photo of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu forwarded to me just now, another handiwork of purveyors of deep fake. Whoever is behind this malicious falsehood will face the judgment of God at the right time. The man in the photo does not look like Asiwaju, except for his baldness. The man is fatter. Tinubu is slimmer.
“Look at the frame of his glasses, it is certainly not Tinubu’s trademark frame. Let me assure Nigerians, who genuinely want to know Tinubu’s whereabouts, that he is in London, in his house.
“Tinubu left Nigeria on Saturday night for a short break and in readiness for what will certainly be a grueling campaign. I saw him and spoke with him two hours before he left. He was hale and hearty. He was not ill. He didn’t go to treat any ailment.
“We spoke today at about 2 pm. And he told me how his one-week retreat has not made any difference. He was still working like in Nigeria. Today, he still burnt his candle till 4.30am.
“Nigerians should stop spreading rumours about Tinubu, who by the grace of God and fellow Nigerians, will be elected our leader next February. We should learn from the divine fate of the man who wished Tinubu dead.”
