A group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the platform of the Progressives Foundational Movement (PFM) said it has uncovered a multimillion-naira smear campaign by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) against the judiciary and its processes through a series of false stories, manipulated analysis and paid propaganda.
In a statement released Thursday in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Barrister Aganaba Johnson, the group said information at his disposal indicates that a large chunk of the money, believed to be over N1.2 billion, is being shared among fake and non-existent Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), newspaper columnists, some political analysts on current affairs, and lawyers to engage in propaganda in favour of the NNPP, which last week lost at the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
According to Johnson, some of the fake CSOs engaged have already swung into action as the smear campaign has kickstarted with damning condemnation of the judiciary with the slogan “Justice for Kano…”
Barrister Johnson said: “The aim, it was gathered, revolves around calling national attention by creating the impression that the justices of the election petition tribunal were not fair in the judgement, thereby creating aspersions on their persons and the judicial process.
“The faceless CSOs are said to be leveraging technology and regular online sessions with support from social media platforms to achieve the objective of discrediting the judiciary.
“It was also learnt that columnists from newspapers and magazines have been reached out to work for the NNPP in the task of rubbishing the judiciary through spurious allegations.”
The pro-APC group further revealed that the backlash of threats to the lives of the judges of the tribunal by its members, which has been hunting the NNPP, is said to be pushing it to engage in an all-out war with the judiciary.
The statement said: “One such fake news story by the NNPP’s sponsored agents is the allegation against the judiciary regarding the choice of the Appeal Court panel of judges to handle appealed cases in the appellate court.
“The NNPP, which is still in shock and disbelief following the verdict of the election petition tribunal, is jittery over what will likely be the verdict at the Appeal Court and therefore said to be deploying resources of the state to intimidate the judiciary.
“The NNPP failed to make its case at the tribunal and still blamed the second arm of government for its failures. Had the election petition tribunal verdict ruled in their favour, will they behave the same way as they are doing now?” The statement queried.
