Human rights activist and convener of 'Concerned Nigerians' Lere Olayinka, has been dragged to court by the ruling All Progressive Congress over controversial statement allegedly credited to the party's publicity secretary.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied a statement credited to Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi that ‘the cause of the current fuel scarcity was because the economy has improved so much that more Nigerians are buying cars.’
According to Vanguard, this came as the party said that it has commenced legal battle against convener of 'Concerned Nigerians', Lere Olayinka.
The party in a statement signed by Edegbe Odemwingie Assistant Director, Publicity said that at no time did Mallam Abdullahi made such statement or even implied it
The statement read thus: "The All Progressives Congress (APC) wishes to again disown the statement attributed to its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi that the cause of the current fuel scarcity is because the economy has improved so much that more Nigerians are buying cars.
"At no time did Mallam Abdullahi make such statement or even implied it. The statement was a pure fabrication by one Lere Olayinka, a media aide to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, who made the alleged tweet on December 19, 2017, without citing any source and was rightly ignored by right thinking people.
"Our Party immediately issued a disclaimer, warning the general public to be wary of the said Olayinka for being notorious for peddling fake news. We have been compelled to issue this disclaimer yet again as there appears to be a deliberate ploy to soil the reputation of Mallam Abdullahi through the spread of this fiction.
"We also wish to note that Mallam Abdullahi has commenced legal action against Mr Olayinka as his lawyers have written to him to disclaim the said statement or be sued for damages.
"We once again appeal to the media to corroborate information attributed to us from our official media channels."