By Bode Olagoke Abuja
Former Vice President and Chieftain of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has disassociated from a news report in a section of the media at the weekend in which stalwarts of the party claimed to have shunned a presidential campaign parley organised by one Integrity group in Enugu state.
A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the Atiku Media Offi ce urged the media to always carry out investigation to ascertain the credibility, veracity or otherwise of stories before publishing, else they may inadvertently earn the ignominious medal of “fake news.” Th e statement read in part: “Th e news about this event is, at worst, the handiwork of some opportunists, political jobbers and shortsighted schemers who are out to do all they can to create power struggles for nothing but, their own selfi sh ends. As such, the Atiku Media Offi ce seeks to distance itself and the former Vice President from such group or persons. “Th e Atiku Media Offi ce restates that what is of paramount importance to Atiku Abubakar (presently in Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser Hajj), at this critical stage of the life of our nation is party unity, unconditional support for the Acting President and prayers for the recovery and return of the President.”