Date: 2017-07-02

Recently, a fake and photoshopped banner of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki surfaced on the internet purporting to call on the Senate President to contest the 2019 Presidential election.

We had initially chosen to ignore the banner as we believed it was fake, and especially coming from somebody not well known among the supporters of the Senate President. However, we later realized with dismay that certain otherwise credible media houses have latched onto the signpost issue and are making news stories out of it. Before the issue of this fake and photoshopped banner becomes an object of political mischief, on behalf of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), we hereby totally dissociate the Senate President from the fake banner, its contents and whatever it represents.

*The Kwara State APC further state as follows:*

1. That the signpost design which we have assessed properly is FAKE and PHOTOSHOPPED and does not exist anywhere in Kwara State or any place in Nigeria for that matter.

2. That Comrade Wasiu Araoyo, who designed the virtual banner is not a well known person in the state and does not have any affiliation to Dr. Saraki or the APC in Kwara State.

3. That from our investigations, we discovered that Araoyo apparently designed the virtual banner out of pure youthful exuberance. This is why we have initially resisted the urge to read mischief into his action, much less call for his arrest.

4. That the Photoshopped banner design is neither authorised by the party or its leaders and therefore does not in any way represent the position of either Dr. Saraki or the APC leadership in Kwara State.

5. That we have advised Comrade Araoyo to immediately bring down the photoshopped virtual banner and ensure he does not hoist it online again.

6. That the Senate President had, on several occasions, advised all his loyalists and supporters at home and abroad, to allow him to concentrate on the onerous task of making the Senate of the Federal Republic, which he leads, an institution which every Nigerian sees and believes is working to improve his standard of living and working for the general development of the country. Consequently, all members of our party, without exception, have chosen to adhere to the directive of our leader.

7. Finally, we will like to reiterate for the umpteenth time that the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has not authorised anyone to commence any form of partisan campaigns for him.

*Signed

Buhari Sulyman Apc State Publicity Secretary

Kwara State Chapter