Olu Onemola, the Special Assistant on New Media to Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has stated that the audio recording in which Saraki was heard speaking on what he spent on the 2015 election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari was fake.
In the audio released by Kayode Ogundamisi, Saraki was quoted as having said he spent between N200 million and N400 million in 30 states to back Buhari’s bid but was not adequately compensated.
He thus told his supporters that the failure to get them appointments was one of the reasons he left the All Progressives Congress for the Peoples Democratic Party.
Speaking on his Twitter handle in a series of tweets, Onemola stated that Saraki had previously reiterated the reasons why he left the APC, hence the “fake” recording was the work of desperate agents of the ruling party.
He tweeted: “For the record: we always restrain from responding to inconsequential issues that we can otherwise ignore. However, in order to put this issue to rest so that we can move on to real issues, these are the facts:
“The audio recording that is being circulated online by known anti-Saraki henchmen is a doctored recording. It was probably part of the mix of manipulations that APC decided to employ for today’s election in four LGAs in Kwara South.
“We will not allow people like @Ogundamisi and other mercenary ‘influencers’ to create false and mischievous impressions that may easily be consumed by the otherwise unsuspecting public.
“Dr. Saraki, in his response to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2018, stated emphatically that he left the APC because ‘the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist’.
“Additionally, in that same response to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dr. Saraki emphasized that he ‘never discussed any such personal and pecuniary benefits with anybody.’ Again, we still challenge that anybody who has contrary facts should come forward.
“Finally, we ask the public to understand that in their desperation to hang on to power, agents of the ruling party are stooping to new lows by doctoring and releasing such audio files. We expect more of such desperate moves. Fake news, remains fake news. Their lies remain lies.”
