Immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai had said that he did not has debunked media reports suggesting he was supporting a southern presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 general elections.
El-rufai in a statement he shared on his X handle said that such report is an “untrue claim, despite its virality.”
Reports had emerged over the weeken suggesting that the former governor of Kaduna State had dumped 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in preference for a candidate from southern Nigeria.
However, in his statement, El-Rufai described the news as “fake news” insisting that he had not made such speech or written to that effect on any of his social media platforms.
According to him, “I have my own verifiable platforms on social media where I speak my mind and own my opinions.”
Reiterating that “no views may be attributable to me unless those I explicitly express on my social media platforms or during interviews with respected media platforms.
“It is also wrong and improper to attribute to me opinion articles from other authors which I may post on my handles as a contribution to the national conversation. These caveats are crucial as we confront both irresponsible politicking and the deliberate misuse of social media for spreading fake news.
“The wilful attribution to me of claims I did not make by a fake news platform is no excuse to treat such platforms with any seriousness.
“In this age of turmoil and falsehood, the always important obligation to verify before posting has become ever more crucial.
“In this instance, a few senior editors seem to have ignored this duty. Society loses if media leaders join the most irresponsible actors on social media in the unedifying olympics of fiction and fakery. Everyone should live up to their responsibility.”
