By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday launched a fierce rebuttal against a viral document circulating on social media that falsely links one of Nigeria’s most notorious terrorists, Mohammed Bello Turji, to its ongoing electronic membership registration exercise, describing the claim as a “vile fabrication” engineered to deceive the public.
In a sharply worded statement issued from Abuja, the ruling party said the so-called APC membership slip bearing Turji’s name was a complete forgery with no footprint in its digital membership architecture, warning Nigerians against falling for what it called a calculated act of misinformation.
According to the APC, the document, which gained traction across X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms was deliberately designed to inflame public opinion and undermine the credibility of the party at a sensitive moment in its nationwide Electronic Registration and Validation Exercise.
A forensic review of the slip, the party said, exposes glaring inconsistencies that immediately betray its fraudulent origin.
One of the most damning red flags is the claim that Turji was registered in “Ward 13” of Shinkafi Local Government Area in Zamfara State, a ward that simply does not exist.
“Shinkafi has only 10 wards,” the APC noted, stressing that every other detail paraded on the document from ward identifiers to digital parameters bears no resemblance to entries in the party’s membership register or database.
“There is absolutely no association or link whatsoever between this document and the APC,” the party said, dismissing the slip as a crude attempt to weaponise disinformation for “sinister objectives.”
Mohammed Bello Turji is widely known as a key figure in armed banditry and terrorism in Nigeria’s North-West, and the APC said any suggestion of his affiliation with the party was not only false but deeply offensive.
The party accused unnamed mischief makers of orchestrating the hoax to hoodwink Nigerians, sow confusion and damage the APC’s public standing, particularly at a time when its digital registration system is drawing nationwide participation.
In a direct appeal to the public, the APC urged party members, supporters and Nigerians at large to completely disregard the document and treat it as fake in its entirety.
The statement was signed by Felix Morka, CON, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, who reaffirmed the party’s commitment to transparent, verifiable and technology-driven membership processes.
As misinformation continues to ripple through Nigeria’s digital space, the APC’s swift response underscores growing political sensitivity around fake documents, manipulated narratives and the weaponisation of social media in the country’s evolving democratic landscape.
