The Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, has denied purportedly leaked WhatsApp chats where sensitive election matters presently before the state’s governorship election petition tribunal were discussed, describing them as forgeries.
Screenshots of WhatsApp chats allegedly depicting a conversation between Fanwo and other commissioners discussing how the tribunal would be compromised went viral on social media on Thursday.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Fanwo said:
“I just saw some screenshots on Facebook, alleging that I and some other top government officials had conversations on a WhatsApp platform about sensitive election matters before the law court.
“As far as we’re concerned, there was no group like that, let alone having such conversations on a public platform.
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“It’s obvious that the opposition created the group, added numbers, and mischievously and fraudulently saved those numbers under the names of government officials to make their fraud look real.
“Only those who think poorly will believe such cheap and pedestrian forgery. We have received calls from friends and well-wishers who also laughed off such unintelligent fraud.
“Kindly disregard this cheap forgery as we are poised to expose the desperate and fraudulent people who want to gain power at all costs. Who knows how many people they would have secretly deceived with this style before they brought their foolishness to the public?
“Stay calm. They are already jittery and forcing themselves into errors, fraud, and forgery.”
He appealed to Kogites and the general public to disregard a fake online screenshot circulated by supporters of political opponents in the state.