Ado-Ekiti-The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has said the serial media attacks on Pastor Enoch Adeboye was the handiwork of Governor Ayodele Fayose, saying blaming the attack on APC was attempt to set Nigerians, particularly Christians of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, against the party and its leaders.
The party had a few days ago refuted a media report linking it with a report castigating Adeboye for praising Fayose during the visit by the man of God to the state.
Few days later, another press statement by a faceless group but ascribed to Hakeem Jamiu, who is an aide of the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, also railed against the religious leader, calling him a money-monger working for Fayose after collecting cash.
But APC scoffed at the “fraud”, saying such malicious report purportedly by APC followed the same pattern of alleged Fayose’s subterfuge to “criminally” set the public against the party for undeserved public sympathy.
Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement in Ado-Ekiti that the serial media attacks on Pastor Adeboye were orchestrated “by a criminal gang working for Fayose to always set communities against communities, individuals against individuals, and individuals against institutions”.
The statement alleged that Fayose’s media aides led by Lere Olayinka had issued two damaging press releases against Adeboye but ascribed them to APC in a “criminal conspiracy to paint the party in bad light to incur the wrath of Redeemed Church members and general public”.
He said: “We want to make it plain with all sense of responsibility that APC is not the author of the two press statements as we have utmost respect for men in God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye in particular.
“The two press statements bear the footprint of Fayose in his characteristic manner to push fictitious and damaging press releases in the media against individuals and institutions and ascribe them to his opponents to incur public opprobrium.
“Nigerians should remember that this same Fayose criminally printed posters in Chief Afe Babalola’s name in 2005 purporting that the innocent elderstatesman wanted to contest election against him, hence the incessant criticisms of his government by the innocent Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“He did the same to Fayemi’s wife with a press statement that the innocent woman called Ekiti people ingrate and hungry people, the same way his media crooks cooked different anonymous groups in the name of APC and used their names to lie and abuse APC leaders in order to tear the party apart and in fact the same these crooks wrote on my behalf in the media that I accused Mrs Aisha Buhari of complicity in the Harliburton scandal and that I asked her to defend herself.”
Explaining that the latest press statement alleging that APC described Pastor Adeboye as a money-monger is one in the series of evil plots by Fayose to set Nigerians against the party, Olatunbosun said:
“The lid of this media conspiracy has been blown open by their latest press release condemning Pastor Adeboye as a money monger.
“They posted the press release to media houses in the name of one Oluwole Ogunlola with the email address ekitinews2014@gmail.com, an email address that belongs to Ekiti State Government.
“Besides, there is no member in the APC media team called Oluwole Ogunlola; in fact all APC press releases are signed by Taiwo Olatunbosun and sent to the media through his email address.
“The last two press releases against Adeboye, which they alleged were written by the State Chairman of APC, Jide Awe; and Fayemi’s Senior Special Assistant on Research and Documentation, Hakeem Jamiu, were neither sent to the media through Olatunbosun’s email and nor signed by him.
“Their latest attempt to paint APC leaders, such as Awe and Fayemi, in bad light in the eyes of Pastor Adeboye, fell flat on their face when reputable media houses refused to use the story because it did not originate from Taiwo Olatunbosun’s email address neither was the story signed by him as is the practice in APC’s communications to media houses.
“We agree that Fayose and his media aides are a perfect match in integrity deficiency, the experience of Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians in Fayose and his aides’ hands is a direct consequence of placing the serious business of running the administration of a state in the hands of irresponsible people.
“We appreciate the Nigerian media for their display of professionalism and pursuit of truth as enshrined in the media code and practice by refusing to publish Fayose’s malicious and dangerous press release capable of causing social discontent in the Nigerian society.
“We believe that Pastor Adeboye worships and serves true God and it is on the strength of this that we invoke Psalm 52 on the writers on those press releases attributed to APC for devising mischief, doing evil, lying and working deceitfully against the righteous.
“We believe that Pastor Adeboye has an anointed tongue and so we say that may the curses from Pastor Adeboye’s mouth and wrath of the Great Lord he serves be upon the writers of those damaging press releases against him.”
He added that Fayose’s latest veiled attack on Pastor Adeboye had confirmed his serial disdain for the men of God after he recently insulted a renown Muslim cleric, Sheik Muyideen Bello, when he angrily snatched a microphone from him at a public function in a mosque in Ado-Ekiti for telling him the truth.

Culled from vanguard newspaper.