The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has said he did not hire carpenters, mechanics, or yam sellers as clerics to the unveiling of the party’s vice-presidential candidate, Sen. Kashim Shettima, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Tinubu said the clerics at the unveiling of his running mate for the 2023 presidential election were not fake “as the purveyors of hatred have made Nigerians to believe in the social media”.

The former governor of Lagos State made this known via a statement issued and made available to The Star on Thursday by the Director, Media and Communication of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga.

He stated that the event held at Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja was an open affair, which allowed the general public to attend, including the clerics and others.

The statement read in part: “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.

“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.

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“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 shift attention of public scrutiny away from their uninspiring candidates and credentials 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 make the desired improvements in the standard of living of our people,” Onanuga stated.

The Star