A plot to smear the Vice President and presidential hopeful under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as a religious fanatic, has been exposed.

It comes just as the media office of former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, also alleged that the presidential aspirant was the target of blasphemous campaign material.

A statement issued by the Osinbajo for President Media Council on Tuesday described the plot as a fraudulent and intended to malign the vice president through false testimonies of discrimination against women wearing hijab.

According to the statement, the plot was traced to a cell of campaigners led by a United States-based Nigerian.

It alleged that the plan involves using fake audio of faceless individuals with fictitious names to cast the Vice President as a religious fanatic, who as a Christian, discriminated against the staff of other faith while he was Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State during the tenure of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

While alerting Nigerians on the plot, the council affirmed that Osinbajo, even as a Christian, has always demonstrated tolerance as he believes in inter-faith harmony and freedom.

The statement reads: “The Osinbajo for President Media Council has uncovered yet another fraudulent plan to malign the reputation of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria and a Presidential Aspirant on the platform of the APC.

“The plan is to use fake audio of faceless individuals with fictitious names to cast the Vice President, who is a Christian, as a religious fanatic, who discriminated against staff of other faith while he was Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State during the tenure of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“In the fake video, a woman is seen crying and making frantic allegations that she was discriminated against by the then Attorney-General because she was not allowed to wear the Muslim head cover for women, otherwise known as the hijab, to work.

“As observed by someone who was in the same Ministry at the time Osinbajo served as Attorney-General, no such incident ever occurred and this is just a malicious and wicked attempt to sully the sterling qualities of Prof. Osinbajo because of his Presidential aspirations.

Indeed as Attorney-General, Prof Osinbajo’s Secretary, a Muslim, Alhaji Abdul Gafar Bakare had testified before now that the then Lagos AG ‘did not only encourage me to further my education even at my relatively old age, he personally sponsored my BSc Accounting Program.’ He added that the VP also sponsored his foreign travel then.

“It would be recalled that similar smear campaigns was unleashed against President Muhammadu Buhari, especially during the 2014-15 Presidential campaigns, when it was alleged that he was virulently anti-Christian. The attempt however met with failure.

Even though a Christian Pastor, Prof Osinbajo has always demonstrated himself to be a tolerant Nigerian who believes in the inter-faith harmony and Freedom of Worship as enshrined in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution as amended. During his career as a university teacher, he taught Moslems and Christians alike in a convivial atmosphere.

“He also had excellent working and private relationships with Muslim bosses over the decades, including Judge Bola Ajibola, former Governor Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari. Osinbajo remains a firm believer in Nigeria’s diversity and ardent proponent of Nigerian unity.

For these reasons, the Media Council feels the need to alert the general public to the odious campaign strategy of Osinbajo detractors and urge everyone to ignore same when released to the public.”