Former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun says he is not the sponsor of a smear campaign alleging his successor, Dapo Abiodun, was convicted for fraud in the United States and therefore unfit to return as governor in 2023.
Amosun made the clarification in a Tuesday statement released by his media office in response to an earlier one by Abiodun’s camp.
Abiodun’s statement read in part, “Recently, Amosun’s loyalists have been coming up with malicious, unfounded, and totally false allegations to incriminate the governor and present him as one who is ineligible to contest the high office he’s occupying.
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“It has been observed that the cell which also masterminded the exit of a former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has been activated to conjure and spread damaging and wicked rumours to sully the sterling qualities of Governor Dapo Abiodun because of his re-election aspiration.
“The plan is to use fake advertorials in as many media as possible, both mainstream and social, of faceless individuals with fictitious names to cast aspersions on the Governor.”
Amosun said the allegations were untrue.
“The attention of Senator Ibikunle Amosun has been drawn to a publication alleging that he was planning a smear campaign against the Governor of Ogun State, Mr. Dapo Abiodun.
“Ordinarily, we do not respond to such wild accusations. However, this is one callous accusation that should not be allowed to pass unaddressed.
“For the record, Sen. Amosun is not involved, directly or indirectly, in any campaign against Governor Abiodun or any person for that matter.
“Sen Amosun implores Governor Abiodun to employ every legal means to bring whoever is involved in any such campaign against him, as alleged, to book,” the statement read.
Recall that a statement released by the Coalition of Ogun State Students and Youths (COSSY) and signed by its General Secretary, Muyiwa Adetona, purportedly showed a mugshot of Abiodun when he was 26 years.
The statement alleged that the mugshot was taken when the young prince was arrested for involvement in credit card fraud in Miami-Dade, Florida, USA.
The coalition said it had also received from the Criminal Justice Records, Miami-Dade, US, the Certified True Copies (CTC) of his criminal records and indictment in 1986 and 1987, both as Shawn Michael David and Oladapo Oluseun Abiodun.
It said the mugshot and CTC would be tendered in court to authenticate the criminal past of the governor and get him disqualified from seeking re-election in the forthcoming Ogun State governorship primaries of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), slated for May 18, 2022.
However, a statement released by Abiodun through a forensic expert, Dr. Abdulhameed Adedeji, dismissed the statement as a poor hatchet job.
“This kind of photoshop is so crude that no self-respecting media outfit can publish it, and it cannot be presented as part of the evidence pool in any court of law.
“I am inclined to believe the claim that it is the handiwork of political adversaries who see that the governor is doing so well and thought of what they could do to discredit him, following their woeful outing at the last election. It is so bad that it will cause considerable embarrassment to anyone who presents it as ‘evidence’ in a court,” the statement read.