A group, Ogun Integrity Vanguard, has dismissed as fake news, the story published by an online medium, (not Tropic Reporters), claiming that civil servants in Ogun State had resolved to vote Governor Dapo Abiodun out of office.
Describing the publication as comedy taken too far, the group wondered why failed but desperate politicians would hide behind disreputable online blogs to purvey falsehood against a performing governor.
It pointed out that like all mercantile outfits thriving on falsehood, innuendo and hearsay, it gave itself away when it claimed that the dissatisfied Ogun workers had resolved to vote for Biyi Otegbeye of ADC who it said had given them a clear plan to solve salary and pensions problems in Ogun State.
Ogun Integrity Vanguard warned the ADC candidate to desist from using fake news to impugn the integrity of Governor Abiodun, saying that such tactics could never stop the workers’ resolve to re-elect the governor for a second term of office.
The group made this declaration in a statement signed by its secretary, Duro Thomas, and made available to newsmen in Abeokuta on Thursday.
According to Thomas, checks on the ministries referenced by the news platform in its hatchet job against Governor Abiodun showed that the names of the purported civil servants speaking out against the governor were entirely fictitious.
Thomas said: “Contrary to the falsehood by Jokotola McCarthy, the news reporter, assuming that even the reporter’s name is real, there is no Liadi Salami occupying the post of director in Ogun, and neither is there any Mrs Victoria Adams at the payroll of the Ministry of Finance
“It is sufficiently clear that the story is a fabrication by a cash-and-carry blogger working for political desperadoes who thrive on misinforming the populace.
“It is interesting that the fictitious civil servants cited by medium concocted fiction against Governor Abiodun by claiming that he is owing workers 27 months deductions in 3 years with no clear plan to settle them, and that 97 percent of Ogun workers, the same Ogun workers that have already endorsed the governor’s second term bi, gave a ‘not- satisfied’ rating!
“If Mr. Otegbeye really wants to be governor, he would not have endorsed fake news meant to take out a performing governor. In case he does not know, Ogun workers are decent, forward-looking individuals who can never be deceived by political fraudsters whose stock in trade is fake news anchored by corrupt bloggers.”