Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that those christian clerics who attended the unveiling ceremony of his running mate,Senator Kashim Shettima in Abuja were not fake, not mechanics or yam sellers as the opposition parties have made Nigerians to believe in the social media.
In a statement through his campaign organization signed by the Director, Media and Communication of the TInubu Campaign Organization TCO, Bayo Onanuga, the APC Presidential candidate added that they were church leaders who genuinely believe that Nigerians must eschew politics of hatred and religious bigotry and rather embrace politics of peace and nation building.
He accused the opposition of cashing in on the development to stir unnecessary attacks on APC, describing as “unwarranted distractions” the viral pictures and videos of some clergymen and women at the unveiling.
The statement read, “We want to say that those clergymen were not fake, not mechanics or yam sellers as the purveyors of hatred have made Nigerians to believe in the social media. They are not big names in Christendom yet, they are gradually building up their missions.
“They are church leaders who genuinely believe that Nigerians must eschew politics of hatred and religious bigotry and rather embrace politics of peace and nation building.
“We therefore deplore the hysterical twisting of the presence of these men and women in cassocks and the false accusation against our candidates, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Shettima.
“The orchestrated social media sensation over the presence of the men is needless and all calculated to detract from the huge success recorded at the momentous event on Wednesday.
“We believe Nigerians are too wise and discerning to see through this shenanigan. Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate and our great party are working very hard to provide purposeful leadership and good progressive governance that will improve the quality of life of Nigerians.
“We are well aware that the opposition parties and the sponsors of the social media charade are jittery and threatened by the intimidating political credentials of our candidates. The only way they hope to shift attention of public scrutiny away from their uninspiring candidates and credentials is to create social media distraction.
“Our campaign is determined on focusing on core governance issues that affect all Nigerians with a view to confronting them and make the desired improvements in the standard of living of our people.”
It would be recalled that some persons dressed in different attires and cassock had on Wednesday attended the unveiling ceremony of Senator Kashim Shettima as the APC Vice Presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
They were said to be representatives of various Christian denominations.
However, CAN disowned the men, saying they were APC-hired impostors.
A spokesperson for the association, Bayo Oladeji, said the priests at the venue were ‘fake’ and accused the Tinubu Campaign Organization of peddling lies to justify the choice of Mr Shettima.
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