The Tinubu Campaign Organization has said it has apologized to former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke for using his photo as Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.
A Monday statement from Bayo Onanuga, the spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, described it as an honest mistake.
Recall Duke had denounced in a video the use of his image in a documentary about Tinubu during his early days.
The video that went viral added to many controversies surrounding the APC presidential candidate.
Onanuga said: “We have taken note of the video being circulated where the former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke, said that his photo as a 12-year-old boy and a student at the Federal Government High School in Sokoto was used in a documentary to celebrate Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Our investigation further revealed that the image in question has also appeared in some of our campaign materials, on websites and Twitter accounts of Asíwájú supporters, along with a similar photo of Asíwájú in suit wearing an Afrohair popular in the 1970s. and 80”.
He explained that “no one, not even Asiwaju’s personal photographers and the artists who designed the materials, have been able to explain how that photo got mixed up with the other photo depicting Asíwájú’s adolescence. They all said they got both photos from the Google search.
“We have called Governor Donald Duke to apologize for the inadvertent mix-up and error.”
Describing it as a mistake for which everyone involved has accepted responsibility, he added that “Tinubu did not authorize the appropriation of another person’s image as his own.”
According to him, “we also want to absolve the Presidential Campaign Council of guilt.
“To the detractors, who have been attacking Asíwájú Tinubu for what he did not know, we want to call on you to be reasonable in this matter.
“We are in a campaign season where many supporters are going out of their way to produce jingles, documentaries, posters, billboards and other promotional materials without the approval of candidates from all political parties.
“In the meantime, the campaign council has established a process for clearance and approval by individuals and advocacy groups seeking to produce campaign materials for media use,” Onanuga said in the statement.
