Atiku disowns video of 2019 presidential ambition

Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has disowned an online video in which he purportedly declared his presidential ambition in 2019.

Reacting to the video, Atiku said it was the handiwork of his detractors who are keen on causing mischief. He said that those behind it extracted a video clip of his 2011 presidential declaration to create a false impression that he formally declared for the 2019 presidential election.

He advised those involved in such “laughable and unintelligent propaganda of lies and intentional mischief to find something useful to do with their time, instead of using his name to achieve their malicious political objectives.”

Atiku described those behind the video clip “as a group of incompetent and bumbling political novices who cannot see the loopholes in their own stories,” the former vice president advised the Nigerian media to be wary of swallowing fake news materials from groups that do not care about their own credibility.

He explained: “While fake news merchants don’t bother about ethics and their reputation, members of the press have more to lose if they take stories from such disreputable groups without verification.”

He added further that spreading false stories about any individual politician is not within the protected boundaries of free speech and urged the traditional media to take the first step by not helping fake news merchants to promote their agenda.