The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have traded accusations over the APC’s Northwest presidential campaign flag-off in Kaduna.
The ADC alleged poor turnout, rented crowds and recycled promises, while the ruling party accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his party of orchestrating a disinformation campaign to discredit the rally.
The ADC Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) described the rally held at the Kaduna Township Stadium on Saturday as a disappointment, claiming that the event exposed declining public acceptance of President Bola Tinubu and the APC ahead of the 2027 general election.
However, the APC Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC) dismissed the allegations as propaganda, accusing Atiku and the ADC of deploying fake news, doctored documents, artificial intelligence-generated content and deepfake videos to undermine the event.
In a statement, ADC-PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, alleged that the APC mobilised supporters from the seven states of the Northwest and beyond, with payments reportedly ranging from N50,000 to N100,000 per person, yet the stadium remained sparsely occupied.
“For a rally billed as the Northwest zonal flag-off, what we witnessed was a shameful spectacle. Despite the alleged mobilisation of crowds from across the zone and beyond, the stadium remained scantily filled, with empty seats everywhere,” Ologbondiyan said.
He argued that the turnout and what he described as an unenthusiastic reception for APC leaders contradicted the ruling party’s claims of widespread support.
The ADC spokesman also questioned President Tinubu’s reported commissioning of road projects at the rally, faulting the administration for what he described as a failure to adequately account for its years in power.
Ologbondiyan further claimed that some attendees expressed dissatisfaction with the APC after leaving the venue, allegedly chanting “Ba mu yi,” a Hausa expression he interpreted as a rejection of the ruling party.
“You can rent a crowd, but you cannot rent acceptance,” he said, adding that the ultimate test of political support would be the electorate’s decision at the ballot box.
The ADC-PCC accused the APC of recycling promises made during the 2015, 2019 and 2023 election cycles, while blaming the Tinubu administration for worsening economic hardship, particularly following the removal of fuel subsidy.
It urged the ruling party to apologise to Nigerians over the economic difficulties and prepare for what it described as an orderly transfer of power in 2027.
But the APC-PCC spokesperson, Dele Alake, accused Atiku and the ADC of executing what he called a “well-orchestrated, devious plan” to discredit the Kaduna rally through misinformation and fabricated materials.
Alake alleged that the opposition had manipulated the image of a security vehicle on routine patrol near an APC campaign billboard, falsely presenting it as evidence that security personnel had been deployed to protect the party’s billboards.
He also accused the ADC and Atiku of circulating a purported letter from Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani to the Director-General of the APC-PCC, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, claiming that the state government had released N2.3 trillion to host the rally.
The APC spokesman described the document as false, arguing that the alleged expenditure was inconsistent with the state’s budgetary figures.
“For context, the combined Kaduna State budgets for 2024, 2025 and 2026 are still less than N2.3 trillion,” Alake said, citing budget figures of N458.271 billion, N790.439 billion and N985.9 billion, respectively.
He further alleged that the opposition planned to circulate old, doctored and deepfake videos during and after the rally to create the impression that residents were hostile to the APC.
“We hereby use this opportunity to alert the general public about this malicious and ignoble plan,” he said, urging Nigerians to reject what he described as the opposition’s disinformation tactics.
Alake also attacked the ADC’s political prospects, describing the party as incapable of winning an election and accusing it of resorting to desperate measures in its bid to gain power.
The two statements presented sharply contrasting accounts of the Kaduna rally, with the ADC questioning the size and enthusiasm of the crowd and the APC insisting that the opposition was attempting to manipulate public perception through fabricated reports and digital content.
While the ADC maintained that the 2027 election would provide the opportunity for Nigerians to reject the Tinubu administration, the APC urged the public to disregard what it described as false narratives surrounding its campaign activities.
