Politics
ICYMI: APC denied apologizing to Donald Duke over Tinubu documentary
- Donald Duke accuses the APC campaign of using his photo in Tinubu documentaries
- APC denied apologizing to Donald Duke over using his photo in Tinubu’s documentaries
The All Progressives Congress, APC Campaign Council, has denied apologizing to a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, over the use of his photograph in a documentary on the party’s presidential flagbearer, Bola Tinubu.
The viral apology, which went viral on Monday night and was widely shared on social media, drew criticism, with some accusing the APC candidate of admitting to fraud.
The statement purportedly made by Bayo Onanuga, the PCC Director of Media and Publicity, purportedly absolved the campaign council of responsibility while acknowledging that the confusion over the Duke and Young Tinubu photos was an “honest error.”
It read, “We have taken note of the video in circulation where former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke, said his picture as a 12-year old boy and student of the Federal Government Secondary School in Sokoto was used in a documentary to celebrate Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Our investigation further revealed that the picture in question has also surfaced in some of our campaign materials, on websites and Twitter accounts of Asíwájú supporters, along with a similar photo of besuited Asíwájú donning an Afrohair popular in the 70s and 80s.
“No one, and not even Asiwaju’s personal photographers and the artists who designed the materials, has been able to explain how the photo was mixed up with the other photo, that represents Asíwájú’s teenage years. They all said they got both photographs in a Google search.
“We have called Governor Donald Duke to apologize for the unintentional mix-up and the error. The usage was an honest mistake for which all involved have accepted responsibility.
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“We want to make it abundantly clear that Asíwájú Tinubu did not authorize the appropriation of another person’s image as his own.
“We also want to absolve the presidential campaign council of any blame.
In other news, which is in contrast to reports claiming otherwise, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, attended Chicago State University, according to former presidential media aide Reno Omokri.
Contrary to assertions made in some circles and by some individuals, he claimed that Tinubu was a student at the institution after a recent visit there. Reno claimed that evidence obtained from the university proved that Tinubu earned a degree in accounting and graduated with honors.
This was in reaction to a statement in a recent TV interview where it was said that the University had denied having records of Tinubu ever being its student. In the program, Omokri said that he had visited the university to obtain evidence that confirmed that Tinubu did attend Chicago university from August 1977 through June 1979.
However, releasing the documents, Omokri said political candidates should be assessed based on what they can do and not based on lies. In the documents released by Omokri, the Chicago State University confirmed that Tinubu majored in Accounting and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with honors on June 22, 1979.
Also, Omokri further noted saying: “On September 19, 2022, I went to verify if Bola Tinubu attended the Chicago State University. I went there and there is video evidence that I went there. And, Chicago state university actually verified that Tinubu attended Chicago State University.
“I don’t like Tinubu. However, if I am going to criticize him, I am not going to criticize him based on lies.
“I was interviewed by Arise TV and one of the journalists told a lie that a subpoena was sent to the Chicago State University by a lawyer and that the Chicago state university responded to it to say that Tinubu did not attend the university. That is a lie.”