The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, February 23, 2015 criticised the recent revelation that an interview allegedly held with the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari in the UK was actually held in Abuja.
The PDP, speaking via a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of its presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, said the revelation that the APC lied about the venue of the interview, conducted by Kemi Fadojutimi of the TV show ‘All Eyes on Africa’ was further proof that the APC was riddled with deceit.
Fani-Kayide said: “It has come to light that the All Progressives Congress lied about the location of General Buhari’s interview with Kemi Fadojutimi of the USA-based TV show ‘All Eyes on Africa’.
“While the APC had earlier claimed that the interview was conducted in London, UK, Mr Mukhtar Dan’Iyan has proven through his Twitter handle,@MrAyeDee, that the interview was actually conducted in the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. This revelation proves the point we have made at various times in the past that the APC is a party founded and built on deceit.
“As many Nigerians are now aware, in 41 tweets posted on his timeline on Sunday, 22nd February, 2015, Mr Dan’Iyan (@MrAyeDee), proved to the whole world that the interview under review, which the APC led Nigerians to believe was conducted in faraway London, United Kingdom, was actually carried out here in Abuja at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.”
“Moreover, despite desperate attempts by the APC propaganda machinery to coerce newspapers from retracting the fraudulent picture of Buhari’s purported London interview, The Guardian, one of the newspapers that printed the picture on its front page of Sunday, 22nd February, 2015, was quick to publish a regretful retraction on page 2 of the newspaper’s Monday, 23rd February, 2015 edition.
“In the retraction, The Guardian wrote, and I quote, ‘The front page picture of yesterday in The Guardian on Sunday was not taken during the visit of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to London as we erroneously stated. The picture was actually taken in Abuja when he was being interviewed by a journalist. The error is regretted.’
“We want to be very clear about this: Nobody here wishes General Buhari anything other than good health. If the General is unwell, it is only right for him to seek medical attention wherever he chooses. Anybody can fall ill at any time. It is God that keeps us all. And we wish General Buhari good health so that he can spend quality time with his family in his retirement.
“The issue at stake here is the credibility crisis the APC has brought upon itself with these pointless lies. As many Nigerians are now asking: If the APC can lie about the location of an ordinary interview, what else has the party been lying about?
“Was the APC lying when the party said it had not cloned Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)?
“Was the APC lying when the party said it had no plans to hack into Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) server even after hacking videos were found on its computers by the State Security Service (SSS)?”
