The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke of orchestrating the destruction of its own campaign billboards as part of what it described as a diversionary tactic aimed at deflecting public attention from ongoing corruption allegations involving top government officials.

Speaking in a press statement issued on Friday, the Head of Media and Publicity Committee of the Osun APC Governorship Campaign Council, Oluremi Omowaiye, dismissed allegations by the Imole Campaign Council that APC supporters were behind the vandalism of campaign materials belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Adeleke.

Omowaiye described the allegation as “false, baseless and desperate,” insisting that it was rather the campaign materials of the APC governorship candidate, Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji, popularly known as AMBO, that had been repeatedly attacked by “political thugs linked to the state government and its Accord Party allies.”

The APC spokesperson further alleged that the reported destruction of billboards by the ruling party was a calculated attempt to whip up public sympathy and divert attention from reports of investigations involving senior officials in the Adeleke administration.

According to him, recent reports concerning the alleged arrest and detention of the Chief of Staff to the governor, Kazeem Akinleye, the Osun State Accountant-General, Rasheed Olalere Alabi, and other officials over alleged financial misconduct had heightened public concern across the state.

Omowaiye claimed that the officials were being investigated over alleged mismanagement of federal allocations and intervention funds received by the state within the last three years.

He specifically cited allegations surrounding the purported diversion of N14.9 billion ecological funds meant for victims of flood and rainstorm disasters, an alleged N2 billion federal grant earmarked for the procurement of buses, as well as claims of over N100 billion allegedly belonging to local governments in the state.

The APC campaign council also argued that residents of the state were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Adeleke administration, particularly when compared with what it described as the achievements of APC-controlled local governments in the area of security support and grassroots development.

The opposition party maintained that the people of Osun would reject the current administration at the governorship election scheduled for August 15, while urging security agencies to thoroughly investigate the allegations surrounding the reported billboard vandalism.