Tinubu’s Panic Cannot Sanitise APC’s Catastrophic Record–ADC Presidential Campaign Council

Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council, has accused President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempting to divert public attention from the administration’s economic failures through allegations of artificial intelligence manipulation and deepfakes against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Shaibu made the allegation in a press statement dated October 24, 2026, while reacting to a statement issued by Dele Alake.
He described Alake’s statement as “a desperate and hollow smokescreen from a campaign terrified of its own record.”
According to Shaibu, Alake accused Atiku and the ADC of a “devious plan,” AI manipulation and deepfakes without providing evidence linking them to the alleged letter or any fabricated video.
“This is the APC’s familiar script: make a reckless accusation, dress it up as certainty, then hope Nigerians stop asking questions,” he said.
“Alake should produce the evidence: names, dates and forensic findings. Until then, his ‘fake news alert’ is an empty political stunt,” he added.
The ADC campaign official argued that the economic challenges facing Nigerians were sufficient evidence of the APC’s record, citing high fuel prices, rising living costs and widespread poverty.
“Petrol is around ₦1,400 a litre; diesel has topped ₦2,000; food inflation remains close to 20 per cent. More than half of Nigerians were living in poverty last year, according to the World Bank estimate reported by Reuters,” he said.
“These are the brutal consequences of an incompetent, callous and ruinous economic course. They are not fake news.”
Shaibu also questioned the circumstances surrounding a vehicle near an APC campaign billboard in Kaduna, following its description by Tinubu as a “routine patrol.”
He said Nigerians had the right to question why a campaign billboard required protection, adding that reports of supporters brought in from distant states and left sleeping on Kaduna’s streets raised further concerns.
The ADC campaign official also expressed concern over reports of accidents involving APC supporters travelling from Sokoto and Abuja to the rally.
“Details remain unconfirmed, and the APC must urgently account for the passengers’ safety,” he said.
Shaibu condemned what he described as the exploitation of supporters through long and potentially hazardous journeys undertaken to create the appearance of large crowds at campaign rallies.
“Making citizens endure long, hazardous journeys and sleep outdoors simply to create rally optics is political exploitation, not leadership. The APC cares more about the appearance of a crowd than the safety and dignity of the people it transports,” he said.
He also questioned Tinubu’s reported decision to campaign in only 12 states, suggesting that the same supporters could be transported from one rally to another to create an impression of widespread public support.
“The same supporters must be moved from one rally to the next, along roads his government has left in disrepair. Those journeys will consume meaningful time. Tinubu knows what happens if the crowd fails to reach the next destination: he may be left addressing empty seats—or, as the saying goes, talking to the birds. A campaign that must transport its audience from state to state cannot pass off that audience as spontaneous nationwide support,” he said.
Shaibu maintained that the APC could not use campaign rallies, billboards and public statements to conceal Nigerians’ dissatisfaction with the administration’s economic policies.
“You can hire buses, assemble a crowd and plaster the streets with billboards. You cannot hire consent. Nigerians have endured the APC’s punishing prices, shrinking incomes and broken promises. No parade, press statement or insult can conceal their growing rejection of this record,” he said.
He accused the ruling party of presiding over rising living costs, declining purchasing power and broken promises, insisting that political attacks against Atiku would not ease the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians.
“The APC’s failures are sweeping, painful and indefensible. Its boastful promises have collapsed into a miserable reality of expensive food, unaffordable transport and families forced to make do with less. Alake’s attack on Atiku will not reduce the cost of a meal by one naira,” he said.
Shaibu expressed confidence that Nigerians would reject the APC at the polls, accusing the party of clinging to power despite the country’s economic challenges.
“The real desperados are those clinging to power while the country burns. At the polls, Nigerians will reject this discredited record and defeat the APC. No volume of propaganda can talk the party out of the reckoning it has earned,” he said.
He concluded by contrasting Tinubu’s economic record with Atiku’s campaign promise, declaring: “Bola made life expensive; Atiku will make Nigeria affordable again!”