APC Chieftain Caught Spreading Fake News About Atiku

APC Chieftain Caught Spreading Fake News About Atiku

Joe Igbokwe

The Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe has been caught spreading fake news on Facebook again.

Joe Igbokwe accused a former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of sharing a sum of $5,000 to each party delegate during the People’s Democratic Party primaries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to woo their political support.

The controversial chieftain of South-eastern ancestry shared a picture of a PDP-branded brown envelope containing wads of dollars on his Facebook page with the caption:

“THE TRADING SEASON IS BACK IN PORT HARCOURT. ATIKU PAYS $5000 PER DELEGATE.”

Mr. Igbokwe’s aim was to label Atiku who later won the PDP presidential primaries as a corrupt politician playing dirty politics. The post which was made at 8:57am on October 6, 2018 has garnered 400 likes, 57 comments and 4948 shares as at 11am on the 8th of October as at the time of filing this report.

Checks by TORI NEWS revealed that the picture is a popular image which surfaced in early 2015 during the presidential election in 2015.

This is the second attempt made by Mr. Igbokwe to mislead the general public using his Facebook account which has a large following.

In July this year, Mr. Igbokwe posted a clear misinformation to thousands of his followers on his Facebook wall.

Accompanied with a picture, which was apparently taken inside Aso Presidentia

l Villa of a police officer walking past President Muhammadu Buhari, who was sitting behind a desk in the background, Mr Igbokwe posted, “Please meet ACP Obinna Chukwuka, the tear rubber Chief Security Officer to Mr President.”

Tear rubber in local parlance means ‘new’.

The post was apparently used to depict the president, who has come under verbal attacks over the perceived lopsidedness of his political appointments, as a detribalised leader.

Premium Times investigation revealed that the claim made in the post was false as the president is yet to replace his Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar.

It would be recalled that Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, kickstarted a campaign against the proliferation of fake news in July, claming that the country is at risk if fake news is allowed to strive.

Mr. Igbokwe seems recalcitrant in proliferating fake news for cheap and selfish political gains. With Nigeria preparing for the general elections, Mr. Igbokwe is expected to churn out more fake reports to malign candidates of the opposition parties.