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Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja
The Media and Communication Directorates of the All Progressives Congress APC Presidential Campaign Council PCC has reacted to a statement issued on Monday by the Thisday/Arise Media Group accusing the PCC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Bayo Onanuga, and Adviser, Media and Communication, Mr Dele Alake of attempting to silence independent media and bully the press ahead of next year’s general election.
In a late Monday statement issued by the directorates on behalf of the duo, the PCC said “the allegation is baseless”.
Noting that it did not just single out the media house for an attack, the PCC said some of its columnists “substitute vile and vulgar abuse for sound logic and informed analyses while its television anchors heckle and harass their guests, particularly those of the APC in their jaundiced, flagrantly unprofessional programmes”.
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“We recall that both THISDAY and ARISE Television sought to bully and compel the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, into attending its Town Hall meetings with presidential candidates, despite the media team’s explanation that it would not attend such programmes organised in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner by individual media houses.
“Each candidate’s campaign team has the right to adopt its own strategies for reaching out to and interacting with Nigerians. As we have repeatedly said, the Tinubu campaign will not succumb to the blackmail, intimidation and harassment of Obaigbena and his media group”, added.
According to the PCC, the “attempt in the said statement to justify its false news report on the purported death of one Mueez Adegboyega Akande and the attempt to insinuate mischievously that he died in suspicious circumstances failed abysmally.
“Rather than apologise for this professional lapse, it resorts to tendentious rationalisations. Its futile attempt to link Asiwaju Tinubu to a drug case in the United States, even when as far back as 2003, the United States government had categorically stated that the candidate has no criminal records in that country, shows the depths of mischief the newspaper is willing to descend in its bid to bring down the APC candidate at all costs. This campaign of calumny is doomed to fail as it always has.
“Our candidate is focused and will not be distracted by this diversionary tactics to throw mud at him simply because he is the obvious front runner in this race and some believe that the only way to stop him is to peddle falsehood against him.
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