TheCable

Bola Tinubu Campaign Organisation says the clergymen who attended the unveiling of Kashim Shettima, former governor of Borno, as running mate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate are not fake.

There was outrage on Wednesday after pictures of clergymen who attended the event went viral on social media.

Many described the clergymen as “fake bishops”.

In a statement on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, the campaign’s director of media and communication, said the clergymen are not known because they are not “big names in Christendom yet”.

Onanuga said the “orchestrated social media sensation” over the presence of the men is needless and a distraction.

“We want to say that those clergymen were not fake, not mechanics or yam sellers as the purveyors of hatred have made Nigerians to believe in the social media. They are not big names in Christendom yet, they are gradually building up their missions,” he said.

“They are church leaders who genuinely believe that Nigerians must eschew politics of hatred and religious bigotry and rather embrace politics of peace and nation building.

“We therefore deplore the hysterical twisting of the presence of these men and women in cassocks and the false accusation against our candidates, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Shettima.

“The orchestrated social media sensation over the presence of the men is needless and all calculated to detract from the huge success recorded at the momentous event on Wednesday.

“We believe Nigerians are too wise and discerning to see through this shenanigan. Asiwaju Tinubu and his running mate and our great party are working very hard to provide purposeful leadership and good progressive governance that will improve the quality of life of Nigerians.

“We are well aware that the opposition parties and the sponsors of the social media charade are jittery and threatened by the intimidating political credentials of our candidates. The only way they hope to shield their uninspiring candidates from public scrutiny is to create social media distraction.

“Our campaign is determined on focusing on core governance issues that affect all Nigerians with a view to confronting them and making the desired improvements in the standard of living of our people.”