Fact-Check: Is Atiku Abubakar Giving Out N10,000 Presidential Campaign Freebies?
Claim: A viral WhatsApp message claims that the Presidential flagbearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is giving out N10,000 to all Nigerians as part of his presidential campaign freebies.
Full Text:
The message which urged all Nigerians to register via a given link reads:
“ATIKU ABUBAKAR FREE N10,000 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 2023
support ATIKU ABUBAKAR for the PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN and receive N10,000 instanr from (ASO) ATIKU SUPPORT ORGANIZATION as part of his CAMPAIGN FUNDS.
This Grant Is Available To All Nigerians who follow the link below to support him
Apply Here
https://tinyurl.com/Atiku-campaign-2023”
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Verification: when PRNigeria clicked on the given link, it displayed a URL that did not link up to the official website of the Atiku Support Organization which is claimed to be executing the giveaway. The link lead to the following URL: https://atiku.getoffer.today/ which also contained the following information, “… Former Nigeria Vice President for 2 Tenors, Is ready to take Nigeria to Next level and Better Country to save Youths from Poverty, Insecurity and Insurgency the youths are going through respectively, Atiku Support Organisation (ASO) has come up with the fund of N10,000 each to Nigerian citizens who support him for PRESIDENT. GET N10,000 by supporting ATIKU ABUBAKAR. Please fill the form bellow And click Support,”
Facts
A search engine check conducted by PRNigeria with the keywords “Atiku Support Oganisation Free Giveway,” led to the Atiku Support Oganisations website whose landing page only contains a form for membership registration.
Similarly, the news menu on the website had “no post yet.”
Additionally, search engine results could not show any credible news organization reported it.
Speaking to PRNigeria on the matter, Paul Ibe, Media Adviser to Mr Abubakar said if any information is coming from the presidential hopeful, Nigerians know where to access it.
“His excellency is very active on Twitter, Facebook and even Tik Tok so if he is not using these channels to pass any such information, people should know it is the usual Nigerian scam,” Ibe said.
PRNigeria examined the social media profiles of Mr Abubakar which contained no such information.
Conclusion/Verdict: based on publicly available information and the response by his spokesperson, the claim that the PDP presidential flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar, is giving out N10,000 to his supporters is false.
By PRNigeria
