Atiku vs Buhari: Okonjo-Iweala reveals her position

Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has again said she has not declared her support for any political party yet.

She lamented that some politicians were using her name to advance their objectives.

The former Minister said this in a statement signed and made available to reporters on Sunday by her Media Adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu.

Okonjo-Iweala said that fake newspaper articles, quotations and audios were being circulated in her name and that the public should disregard them.

The former Minister stated, “In spite of several rebuttals and clarifications that we have issued over the past months, some groups and individuals are still misusing the name of former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to further partisan political objectives.

“We would like to alert Nigerians that this unfortunate practice has increased significantly in this political season.

“This misuse of the minister’s name comes in many forms. There are fake newspaper articles published under her name.

“Fake quotations canvassing certain views which are falsely attributed to her. Even fake audios in which someone pretends to be the former finance minister have been going round. Most of these are typically disseminated on WhatsApp and other forms of social media.

“In one recent example, a video of the minister was cleverly edited, leaving out crucial information and context to give a totally false impression.

“These shenanigans are designed to give the impression that she supports one particular political interest or position or the other. We urge Nigerians to ignore these mischievous antics by political peddlers of fiction.

“Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is very capable of speaking for herself if and when she wants to and does not need the help of anyone to do that.

“In this political season of forged and fake news, we urge the media and the public to crosscheck the authenticity of any quotations, articles, audios and videos attributed to Dr Okonjo-Iweala before giving them credence or going public with them. If it does not come directly from Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s twitter account, then kindly discount it.”