Former South-East spokesman to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chairman of the Forum of Former Members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Denge Josef Onoh, has dismissed claims that the temporary freezing of Osun State Government bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission contributed to the All Progressives Congress’ defeat in the Osun governorship election.

Onoh, in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos, said the APC lost the election because of internal sabotage, anti-party activities and factional disputes among some of its stalwarts.

He described the account-freezing argument as “political propaganda”, insisting that elections were won through sustained grassroots mobilisation, party unity and effective communication of policies, rather than access to state funds shortly before polling.

According to him, “the freezing of the Osun State bank accounts was not a contributing factor to our loss. Rather, the bitter truth is that the APC lost Osun State solely due to the anti-party activities, internal sabotage, and deeply undemocratic conduct of its own party stalwarts.”

Onoh said the party’s leaders also failed to take advantage of what he described as the tangible achievements of the Tinubu administration to persuade voters in the state.

He said the Federal Government had recorded gains in infrastructure, economic reforms and local government autonomy, but APC leaders in Osun failed to effectively communicate these achievements to the electorate.

“Instead of taking these concrete, sellable milestones to the marketplace of ideas in Osun State to win over undecided voters, party stalwarts chose to remain completely silent,” he said.

Onoh identified factional warfare as another major factor behind the party’s defeat, alleging that some high-ranking leaders deliberately divided the state chapter rather than working together against the opposition.

“You cannot go into a major election with a house divided against itself and expect victory,” he said.

He further accused some prominent APC leaders and their loyalists of openly engaging in anti-party activities by withdrawing support for the party’s candidate in some local government areas.

According to him, some of the party’s stalwarts allegedly funded or campaigned for opposition candidates, or instructed their political structures to support them, thereby weakening the APC in its traditional strongholds.

Onoh also accused internal detractors of de-marketing the APC candidate, saying they spent months promoting narratives that portrayed the candidate as incompetent and unpopular instead of highlighting the party’s achievements.

He said repeated attempts by national and regional leaders to reconcile the warring factions failed because some aggrieved party leaders allegedly boycotted reconciliation meetings, rejected compromises and turned down peace overtures.

“They chose personal vendetta over party supremacy,” Onoh said.

The former presidential spokesman also alleged that some local leaders deliberately suppressed voter turnout in their areas on the eve of the election and on election day.

He claimed that withholding logistics, failing to deploy canvassers and abandoning polling units created gaps that opposition parties exploited.

Onoh said the EFCC could not be blamed for the electoral outcome because the agency neither cast ballots nor managed political campaigns.

“The EFCC does not cast ballots, write election results, or manage political campaigns,” he said.

He also defended President Tinubu’s handling of the election, saying the President demonstrated commitment to democracy by ensuring a level playing field and resisting the use of federal power to influence the outcome.

Onoh concluded that the APC’s defeat was the consequence of choices made by its own leaders.

“APC lost Osun State because its own stalwarts chose ego over loyalty, sabotage over solidarity, and internal warfare over democratic unity,” he said.

“They had a goldmine of achievements from President Tinubu’s federal administration to secure an easy victory, but they deliberately threw it away. The blame lies squarely in the mirrors of those who betrayed the broom.”