A presidential aspirant’s campaign team has been unmasked as the sponsor of the blasphemous poster against Professor Yemi Osinbajo, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), despite its denial through a press statement dated April 19, 2022, the Osinbajo Support Movement (OSM) has said.
Recall that posters carrying the VP’s picture with the inscription “the Judas who betrayed his master”, littered walls and street light poles in parts of the FCT on Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, 2022, the Easter period, raising dust against the sponsors and brains behind the posters.
In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Adejuwon Babatunde, on Thursday, OSM explained that the poster campaign elicited wide condemnation across the country.
It said following the public reaction and the failed attempt to brand Prof Osinbajo as a betrayer, the Media Team “ate its own words” with crocodile tears, claiming it was an attempt to “rope them into a storm of blasphemy.”
“But evidence now unravelled by the Osinbajo Support Movement (OSM) showed links, including telephone chats and call logs of a suspect arrested by security agencies indicate that the aspirant’s campaign team was indeed responsible for posting of the blasphemous posters,” the group said.
It said in its statement: “Though the prime suspect, one Mike, denied working for the campaign team, records of his phone chats with a member of the campaign team, contradicted his statement to the Police.
“According to security agents, the said Mike denied working with anyone and attributed his actions to frustration, but records of his phone chats dated Thursday, March 24, 2022, and Tuesday, April 12, 2022, all revealed the involvement of the campaign team in the despicable act.
“The exchanges between him and the other persons contradict his claims that he wasn’t working for anyone.
“This action has exposed the desperation of the Vice President’s political opponents and the apprehension in their camp over Osinbajo’s increasing popularity and wide acceptability by Nigerians.
“We urge Osinbajo not to be distracted as the race for the 2023 elections intensifies. Nigerians however need to be vigilant and beware of the antics of those who do not mean well for our country, and who are deploying desperate strategies in an abortive attempt to revive a failing campaign.”
Just as the Osinbajo media council noted earlier in the week through a statement, “detractors will be unrelenting in their promotion of campaigns of calumny against the VP, but his admirers must remain resolute and firm to emerge victorious at the end of the day.”