The Ekiti State Government has alleged that some members of the All Progressives Congress are plotting a coordinated social media attack on Governor Biodun Oyebanji ahead of the party’s governorship primaries scheduled for October 27.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Yinka Oyebode, in a statement on Friday, said over 150 individuals, including notable influencers at the national level, had been paid to launch the attack from next week.
Oyebode said, “Unlike previous sponsored media attacks on the governor and the state government that were treated with kid gloves, this new plot would be treated with the seriousness it deserves. Hence, the general public, security agencies and all relevant institutions are hereby put on notice.
“The sponsors of this grand plot, sadly, are members of the ruling APC, who are bent on heating up the polity in a bid to make a cheap political point. Part of their grand design, as uncovered, is to discredit the governor, as well as some key figures within the party and the government, through spurious and malicious allegations, including forged documents and AI-generated graphics.”
According to the statement, those behind the planned campaign were the same group accused of sponsoring an attack on President Bola Tinubu last week, using the Itawure-Aramoko-Igede road in the state as a pretext.
He stated, “Whereas the poorly coordinated social media attack on the President failed woefully because the vast majority of Ekiti people, and indeed the general public, rejected the narratives.
“These characters went back to the drawing board and came up with another action plan, which includes inducing 150 social media attackers with a huge sum of money (in foreign currency) to carry out the nefarious act of character assassination and cheap blackmail through online trending of forged documents.
“The government has chosen to alert the public on this grand plot in order to avert likely breach of the peace, recourse to self-help and unnecessary tension in the polity which are the main intention of the masterminds of this ignoble plot.”
The state government advised all political gladiators, especially those aspiring to public offices, “to maintain some decorum and play according to set rules and regulations as we approach the electoral season.”
“The Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji administration welcomes constructive criticism and is ready to provide sincere answers to genuine enquiries about governance and the management of our commonwealth.
“All aspirants are also urged to make their campaigns and public engagements issue-based, and stay clear of any sponsored social media attack on the person of the governor as well as sponsored violent attacks on any citizen of the state.”
It noted that Governor Oyebanji, who served as Secretary to the Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State, remained guided by the ideals of the state’s founding fathers for unity, peace, and development.
