Former VP says 2019 elections campaign rice photos are fake

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that pictures of his campaign sticker on bags of rice are a fabrication.

A picture of what looked like a campaign sticker for the former Vice President's 2019 presidential bid on a bag of rice got quite a lot of criticism from Nigerians on social media.

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In reaction, Atiku's media office distanced the former Vice President from the pictures, saying they were most likely fake and had nothing to do with his campaign.

On its official Twitter account , the team posted, "We've seen this flying around. It's fake. Possibly photoshop. owns a feed factory, employing hundreds, not rice."

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This is not the first time the team has had to deny a claim against the former Vice President. After a report by a news organisation claimed that Atiku supported leader of separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, they threatened to take legal action.

ALSO READ: Atiku Abubakar denies supporting Nnamdi Kanu

Despite not making a formal announcement yet, the former Vice President is expected to contest for the 2019 presidential elections even though he's still a member of the All Progressives' Congress (APC), the same party as incumbent PresidentMuhammadu Buhari who is also expected to seek reelection.

Atiku has contested for the president's seat a number of times, losing to the late President Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 presidential elections and losing in the primaries to eventual winners President Goodluck Jonathan and President Buhari in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections respectively.