Festus Keyamo circulates fake video to accuse Labour of vote rigging, propaganda

Minister of State for Labour Festus Keyamo’s attempt to accuse the Labour Party of vote rigging and propaganda in the recently concluded presidential election turned futile as the video shared by the senior lawyer was exposed as fake. 

In the video posted via his Twitter account on Saturday evening, Mr Keyamo attempted to cast aspersions on the claims of electoral injustice that the Labour Party has submitted before the presidential election petition tribunal. 

“This is the political Party saying only their figures were accurate but other political Parties rigged. It is the barefaced lies & audacity with which they carry on their propaganda that is very befuddling! They will soon discover the difference b/w propaganda & judicial analyses,” he captioned the video. 

The video Mr Keyamo posted was from a series of voter education programmes that are usually organised by the government, civil society, and political parties alike during election seasons.

Although it is not clear the authority behind the particular campaign, the ballot papers shown in the video visibly carried specimen watermarks. 

It’s also unclear what role the misrepresented video will play in the defense put forth by president-elect Bola Tinubu’s legal team, with whom Mr Keyamo had indicated that they were working together to protect Mr Tinubu’s “mandate.”

He continued, “They will soon learn the difference between propaganda & judicial analyses,” in the caption of the video. 

A spokesperson for Mr Tinubu did not respond to comments as to whether his team was considering the video as part of evidence. 

Mr Keyamo’s fake video is the latest in his episodes of deliberate public misinformation which has now become his patent tactic to either exaggerate the activities of his political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), or to launch attack at opposition parties. 

Weeks before the February 25 presidential and national parliamentary elections, Mr Keyamo shared a picture which was taken at a Chicago carnival during the COVID-19 pandemic on his Twitter profile, falsely describing it as an aerial shot from an APC campaign in Sokoto. 

He also previously shared an old photo of leaders opposition parties, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) together.

Mr Keyamo said the picture was from a recent meeting between Messrs Atiku and Obi where discussions of political concessions were going on but the lie was quickly rebuffed.