Ekiti guber: Forces within APC planning social media attacks against me — Oyebanji

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has raised the alarm over plans by some forces within the All Progressives Congress (APC) to launch coordinated social media attacks against him ahead of the governorship election.

The governor explained that the group of individuals within the party had perfected plans to engage no fewer than 150 social influencers and groups to malign him before the October 27, 2025, primaries of the party.

Oyebanji, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, on Friday, revealed that his administration would no longer tolerate the activities of the individuals within the APC who are daily discrediting his administration and that of President Bola Tinubu.

The statement reads: “It was gathered that over 150 persons across various social media platforms, including notable influencers at the national level, have been paid to carry out the attack beginning from next week.

“The sponsors of this grand plot, sadly, are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (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.

“Those behind this planned social media onslaught are the same people who clandestinely launched a social media attack against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last week, using one of the federal roads in the state — the Itawure-Aramoko-Igede road — as an alibi.

“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 huge sums 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 intentions of the masterminds of this ignoble plot.

“Unlike previous sponsored media attacks on the Governor and the State Government that were treated with kid gloves, this new plot will be treated with the seriousness it deserves. Hence, the general public, security agencies and all relevant institutions are hereby put on notice.

“All political gladiators, especially those aspiring to public offices, are advised 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.

“As Secretary to the Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State, Governor Oyebanji understands the desires and aspirations of the founding fathers for a united people working in one accord to ensure peace, progress and development in Ekiti. This has been the guiding principle of his administration.”

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