After it became clear that The All Progressive Congress Presidential Campaign Council erroneously used the picture of a 12 year old former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke in a documentary on its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the council has apologized to Donald Duke for using this picture.
The APC apology contained in a press statement signed by Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga on November 28, 2022, titled “inadvertent use of former governor Donald Duke’s picture in a documentary on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu” states that, “We have taken note of the video in circulation where former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke said his picture as a 12-year old boy and student of Federal Government Secondary school in Sokoto was used in a documentary to celebrate Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Our investigation further revealed that the picture in question has also surfaced in some of our campaign materials, on websites and Twitter accounts of Asíwájú supporters, along with a similar photo of besuited Asíwájú donning an Afrohair popular in the 70s and 80s.
“No one and not even Asiwaju’s personal photographers and the artists who designed the materials, have been able to explain how the photo was mixed up with the other photo, that represents Asíwájú’s teenage years. They all said they got both photographs in Google search.
“We have called Governor Donald Duke to apologize for the unintentional mix-up and the error. The usage was a honest mistake for which all involved have accepted responsibility.
“We want to make it abundantly clear that Asíwájú Tinubu did not authorize the appropriation of another person’s image as his own. We also want to absolve the Presidential Campaign Council of any blame. To the traducers, who have been attacking Asíwájú Tinubu for what he knew nothing about, we want to appeal to them to be reasonable over this matter.
“We are in a campaign season where many supporters go out of their ways to produce jingles, documentaries, posters, billboard materials and other promotional materials without the approval of candidates across political parties.
“The campaign council has in the meantime established a process for clearance and approval by individuals and support groups who seek to produce campaign materials for media use”.
Surprisingly, the All Progressive Congress Presidential Campaign Council, refers to Duke as “former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke”, making it clear that the council does not know the difference between Cross River and Rivers states, an blatant error by all standards.
The statement also referred to Duke’s picture as being that of “…a 12-year old boy and student of Federal Government Secondary school in Sokoto”, checks however reveal that Duke did not at any point of his life, attend “Federal Government Secondary school in Sokoto”, rather he attended the Federal Government College, Sokoto.
One Elijah Tochukwu David in a swift response maintained that, “Donald Duke a former Rivers State governor? They would release another press statement to apologize for that too.”
