The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has denied any association with a media consultant named Kola Johnson.
Atiku also rejected statements released by the media consultant on Wednesday claiming that he would protect Yoruba interests if elected as president in 2027.
In a statement issued on Thursday by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku alleged that “faceless mercenaries” are behind the false press statement to “discredit him.”
He described the claim as “false and offensive,” noting that it is part of a “calculated propaganda project to ridicule him in the media.”
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The statement directly accused the Presidency, reading, “Our findings point directly to the Presidency, which, in its desperation to smear opposition leaders, has resorted to hiring faceless mercenaries to fabricate fake stories and circulate unauthorised statements on Atiku.”
The statement added, “Let it be clear: Atiku Abubakar has never engaged one Kola Johnson as a media consultant, aide, or associate. Any statement issued in that name is fake and should be disregarded. We urge media houses that have published such falsehoods to immediately retract them.”
The statement concluded that authentic information is only released through Atiku’s Media Adviser or Special Assistant on Public Communications, adding, “Editors and media gatekeepers are strongly advised to verify with the Atiku Media Office before publication.”
The report widely circulated on Wednesday had claimed that Atiku assured people of the South-West that their interests would be central to his policy direction if elected.
The report, quoting the statement by Kola Johnson, said Atiku spoke during an engagement with select stakeholders.
It claimed he described the people of the South-West as one of the finest species of the human race and that his marriage to a Yoruba woman in the 1970s had forged a permanent bond between them.
The report also claimed Atiku dismissed fears of Hausa/Fulani domination as unfounded and insisted that the Yoruba were his “larger extended family and in-laws.”
The report attributed the following statements to the former vice president: “In case you don’t know or have forgotten, I was married to my first wife, Titi, a Yoruba woman, in the 70s, and we have four Yoruba children together. She is now over 75 years old, and we are still together.”
It also added, “Besides, the Yoruba are so sophisticated and highly educated that you can only toy with them at your peril,” and, “My Ijesha-born Yoruba wife is more than a wife to me. Aptly put, she is my Jewel of Inestimable value and anybody who knows about my family, even from a distance, can easily tell you this.”
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