A fresh political row has erupted in Osun State as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the state government, led by Governor Ademola Adeleke, lock horns over a billboard featuring both President Bola Tinubu and Governor Adeleke in Iwo.
The billboard, which carries the message “Continuity of Progress” and is credited to a group called “Osun Leaders of Thought,” was reportedly mounted in the early hours of Wednesday. It prominently displays the images of President Tinubu and Governor Adeleke side by side.
Reacting sharply, APC’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, condemned the billboard, describing it as a deceptive political maneuver aimed at creating a false sense of alliance between the President and the PDP-led Osun government.
“This is absurd and a brazen display of dirty politics,” Olabisi said in a statement issued on Thursday. He labeled the display a “fraudulent billboard,” calling it an eyesore and an act of political heresy. The APC, he added, disassociates entirely from the message and intentions behind it.
According to Olabisi, the move was orchestrated by unidentified individuals seeking to mislead the public into believing there is political harmony between President Tinubu and Governor Adeleke.
“No matter the tricks, attempts to rebrand an unsellable political product won’t work,” he stated.
In a swift rebuttal, the spokesperson to Governor Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, dismissed the APC’s outrage, accusing the party of grappling with an “integrity crisis” and being rattled by the governor’s surging popularity.
“The opposition is in disarray, struggling for what to say as Governor Adeleke’s cross-party appeal grows stronger,” Rasheed said.
He highlighted recent achievements of the Adeleke administration — including partnerships with the British Museum and the Nigeria-UK Chamber of Commerce — as reasons for the APC’s discomfort. Rasheed also pointed to increasing endorsements from both federal and non-governmental organizations as evidence of the governor’s rising approval.
“The APC has resorted to misinformation because it can no longer cope with its own dwindling relevance,” he added. “They’re now ranting over a billboard — that’s how low they’ve sunk.”
