The All Progressives Congress Campaign Council said on Tuesday that it never issued an apology to former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke for the use of his photograph in a documentary about the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The documentary “Bola Tinubu And His Political Journey,” which includes a photo of the former Cross River governor to depict Tinubu at a young age, has sparked a lot of discussion on social media.
Some media platforms (Not Newsclick Nigeria Media) had published a statement purportedly from Bayo Onanuga, one of the spokespersons of the PCC, stating that the campaign had issued an apology to Mr Duke.
However, in a statement on Monday, Mr Onanuga dismissed reports, noting that the campaign did not issue any apology to Mr Duke.
Onanuga explained that no member of the Tinubu campaign media directorate authorised the said apology on behalf of the former Lagos State governor.
His words, “Our attention has been drawn to a press statement currently in circulation credited to the Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
“In the said statement, Mr. Onanuga was reported to have apologised to Mr. Donald Duke for an error in the use of his picture in a documentary on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We want to categorically state that the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council did not authorise the said statement and Mr. Onanuga didn’t issue any statement on behalf of the campaign council and our principal, Asiwaju Tinubu today.
“We urge the media and members of the public to disregard the statement as a fake news designed to create confusion and mislead the public.”