“I did not rent crowd to boo Buhari in London,” says Fani-Kayode

The Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has denied allegation that he rented a crowd to boo the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rted) during his presentation at the Chatham House, London, on Thursday.

Fani-Kayode denied the allegation on his twitter handle @realFFK saying, “My attention has been drawn to a story that I am renting a crowd to embarrass Gen. Buhari at Chatham House later today. It is a lie.”

Since his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan, the former APC stalwart has engaged the party and its presidential candidate, Gen.Buhari in a fierce campaign battle.

It would be recalled that true to expectations, three hours before the advertised speech, as early as 9 am, a group of Nigerians in Diaspora had besieged the Chatam House, protesting against the candidature of Buhari, creating a scene that attracted the London police.

The arrival of the crowd only confirmed stories that the Jonathan campaign group had doled out wads of cash to some people to disrupt the event.

From interviews by a TV crew, it was obvious that many of the people hired were not Nigerians. They also did not even know why they came to carry banners of protests.

TV reports, especially on YouTube and social media, show the ladies were unkempt, indicating, as the interviewer suggested, they were picked straight from some red-light districts in the city.

It was the first time, an incumbent would carry out a political hate-campaign against a rival outside Nigeria.

The campaign of hatred is already being waged intensely locally, with daily assaults on Buhari’s medical, educational, military records by the Jonathan group. At the last count, there were about 10 legal challenges to Buhari’s educational qualification by litigants working for the Jonathan group, and who are seeking a court order to stop Buhari’s electoral challenge to Jonathan: a desperation by an incumbent has never been so palpable in the history of Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the APC alleged on Wednesday that their sources in London disclosed that Fani-Kayode is organizing a paid protest against Gen. Buhari on Thursday when he appears for his Chatham House engagement.

In the same vein, Gen. Buhari also threatened, Wednesday, to back out of the Abuja Peace Accord over what he termed ‘repeated thrown tantrums’ over his academic qualifications by Fani-Kayode.