The EU Election Observation Mission has accused Festus Keyamo, a former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, and Femi Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of engaging in the dissemination of false information during Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
According to the EU Observers’ recent report, Keyamo and Fani-Kayode were found to have misled Nigerians by actively spreading fake news throughout their campaign activities. The report highlights specific instances where these APC members propagated false information in support of their respective candidates.
The report reads partly: “There was an increased incidence of misleading information in the days leading up to and during the election. In many cases, false reports were spread by well-known personalities associated with political parties.
“On February 12, Festus Keyamo from APC promoted information published by a suspicious website, accusing Peter Obi of bribery. The story quickly became viral and was in a few hours debunked.
“Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation and an APC party member, made a claim on February 11, 2023, that the PDP presidential candidate Abubakar had a secret meeting with serving military generals in Abuja.
“He accused Atiku of wanting to incite chaos, provoke a coup d’état, and establish a new and unconstitutional order. Kayode posted this claim across multiple social media platforms, and it garnered 281.2k total impressions. The next day, he posted that the Army denied reports about a meeting between its officers and Atiku.”
