The All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council has refuted a claim that N400 billion was recovered when Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives raided the home of its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu. The council also called for the arrest of the online publisher that circulated the story. The APC’s rebuttal came after the EFCC denied conducting any raid on the former Lagos State governor’s residence.
On Sunday, an online platform reported that Tinubu had forfeited N400 billion in old naira notes to EFCC operatives after one of his underground homes was raided. The story quickly spread on social media before the anti‑corruption agency issued a denial. In a tweet, EFCC spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren urged Nigerians to disregard the report as fake news.
A statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Director of PCC Media and Publicity, noted that the campaign council had discovered the “rogue website” was created to disseminate false and malicious information against Tinubu. Onanuga criticized the story for lacking the essential details of “when, where and how” that constitute a credible news report.
Former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, also a member of the APC PCC, praised the EFCC for promptly dissociating itself from the fabricated story and called on security agencies to locate the site’s owners. He warned, “We urge the authorities to fish out the people behind the site that is recklessly dishing out fake news before more damage is done to our polity. We want to warn Nigerians to be wary of every piece of news emanating from the site and its social‑media handles.”
He added that such sites are likely to proliferate as some candidates become desperate to win at any cost, resorting to rogue opinion polls and abandoning decent norms. The dubious website claimed that investigations were ongoing to identify the bank manager who allegedly made the money available to Tinubu, then absurdly suggested that the recovered sum equaled “the entire money printed for the whole of Nigeria” by the Central Bank. The site further alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the arrest of the bank manager who provided the phantom money to the APC candidate, linking the story to the Labour Party on Twitter and Facebook.
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