The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has apologised to former Cross River State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke, for the inadvertent use of his photograph in a documentary on its candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Recall that Tinubu came under heavy criticism and accusation of identity theft for allegedly using the photo of Duke, for his documentary on Television Continental (TVC) weeks ago titled ‘Bola Tinubu And His Political Journey’.
The documentary traced his roots and rise to political prominence, showcasing his life story and political journey but with a photograph showing him as a young boy in dark sunglasses, and well suited. Reacting to the documentary video, Duke, while speaking at a roundtable hosted by the Front Fort Media Initiative and the MacArthur Foundation in Lagos, alleged that, “The picture of the boy used as Bola Tinubu in all the documentaries is me. I am the boy in the picture, not Tinubu as they claimed in their documentaries.
“That photo was taken when I was 12 years old during my school years at the Federal Government College Sokoto, in Sokoto state.”
In a statement, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PCC, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, disclosed that Tinubu’s personal photographers have been unable to explain how the photo was mixed up with the other photo, that represents Asíwájú’s teenage years.
The full statement titled, INADVERTENT USE OF FORMER GOVERNOR DONALD DUKE’S PICTURE IN A DOCUMENTARY ON ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU reads: “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 Asíwájú 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.”
