http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/172000-kano-threatens-sue-presidency-abati-fraud.html


The Kano State government has
threatened to prosecute the
spokesperson to the Nigerian
president, Reuben Abati, for
advanced fee fraud, 419, and the
Presidency, the agency he represents,
over the use of the state’s project
photographs to promote President
Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.
Mr. Abati, the Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, had,
in a 10-part series of tweets on
Sunday, used photographs of the 10-
storey Northwestern University and
students of the Kano State Institute
of Informatics to illustrate key
projects he claimed the President
Jonathan administration executed in
the six North-West states of Kano,
Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and
Zamfara.
The 10-storey building in Mr. Abati’s
illustration was a long-standing
project of the Kano State
government, which was only completed
and made a campus by the state’s
current governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The Kano Informatics Institute was
also established in 2011, by the
current governor.
Using the hashtags #DidYouKnow? #
TransformationintheNorthWest #
ForwardNigeria#UpJonathan #
UpNigeria, Mr. Abati deployed images
and graphics to illustrate what he
called the president’s transformation
of the North-West zone.
Mr. Abati’s tweets angered the Kano
state government. It accused Mr.
Abati of lying, deception and
plagiarism and demanded the deletion
of the tweet and a public apology. The
current Kano state governor, who is
claiming credits for the brandished
projects, is also a presidential
aspirant and member of the
opposition All Progressives Congress,
APC.
The deceptive tweets also drew heavy
public criticism against Mr. Abati and
the presidency.
The presidential spokesperson has
since deleted the tweet and replaced
it with an infographic where the
president’s achievements were
illustrated with words scribbled in
colourful speech bubbles.
Ahead of the February 15 general
elections, Nigerian politicians with
ambitions are desperate to brandish
concrete achievements to convince
the voting public they performed well
in their current position, a
prerequisite for public support.
419
More than 24 hours after the tweet
was deleted, the Kano government
said Mr. Abati is yet to apologise to it.
“We are giving him seven days to
tender a public apology or we will sue
him,” Jaafar Jaafar, the Special
Assistant on Media to Governor
Kwankwaso, told PREMIUM TIMES.
He said the state government was
approaching its lawyers to kickstart
plagiarism and advance fee fraud,
aka 419, charges if Mr. Abati failed to
apologise.
He argued that in addition to using
the images without permission, the
presidential spokesperson intended to
deceive the public with those images
and make pecuniary gains. He said Mr.
Abati’s action was planned to
“hoodwink” Nigerians into believing
President Jonathan’s administration
was effective in the region.
Mr. Jaafar argued that such
assumptions could have misled voters
to re-elect the president in the
forthcoming election and in turn
make Mr. Abati richer.
“That is obtaining money under false
pretence,” Mr. Jaafar said.
If Mr. Abati is charged, it would be the
first time an aide of the President is
tried for deception.
Mr. Abati could not be reached for
comments.
Telephone calls rang out and were not
returned.
Text messages were not replied.

Na wash joor

PDP and their fraud, rather than perform they loot, deceive and come up with different propaganda. Shamefully, they are campaign with the Project of Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, Governor of Kano State. Please, Kwankwaso, sue them and let their case serve as deterrent to their fraudulent subordinates

Where's ya sauce

Please pity dem. We know they are rogues, they can't deceive us. If dem like mke dem go snap road for london...we know the truth
Later that loudspeaker called abati wil deny he used any picture...