Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Oyo State Government has dismissed claims by the Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation that diphtheria is affecting several local government areas in the state, insisting that no case of the disease has been confirmed and accusing the APC campaign of manufacturing a public health crisis for political advantage.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Adviser on Media to Governor Seyi Makinde, Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, the government said the claim that diphtheria was affecting 16 local government areas was not supported by official surveillance data. According to the Commissioner for Health, Dr Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, the Ministry of Health’s Diphtheria Outbreak Surveillance Update for Epidemiological Week 40, 2026, showed suspected cases in only 10 LGAs, and none had been confirmed .
The APC campaign organisation had listed Atisbo, Ibadan North West, Oyo West, Akinyele, Saki, Egbeda, Oriire, Ibadan North, Ibadan South West, Iwajowa, Ona Ara, Atiba, Lagelu, Ogbomosho North, Surulere and Oluyole as affected areas, and raised concerns about cases and fatalities among children . The government described the inflated geography as a fabrication capable of causing needless public anxiety, adding that the figures it circulated collapsed under the weight of verified national statistics .
Despite the absence of confirmed cases, the government said it had taken necessary preparedness and response measures. The Public Health Emergency Operations Centre had procured antibiotic supplies and requested a buffer stock of diphtheria antitoxin, while rapid response teams had been activated for suspected cases in line with the 7-1-7 framework. Suspected patients had been isolated and treated at the Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo, using antitoxin and appropriate antibiotics .
The government also rejected the APC campaign’s claim that Oyo ranked at the bottom of South-West childhood immunisation coverage. It said verified data from the 2025–2026 Nigeria Mini Demographic and Health Survey showed that the state’s basic antigen coverage was at the South-West average, while its national schedule coverage exceeded the zonal average, including among children aged 24 to 35 months . It described the figures cited by the campaign organisation as invented and said they dismantled the “bottom of the region” narrative .
On the World Bank-supported Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services Project, the government said the campaign organisation’s attempt to portray Oyo’s participation as evidence of failure was misleading. It said the project was multi-component and that funds received had been used strictly for their intended purposes. It challenged the campaign to specify what, where and how funds were allegedly mismanaged and to present evidence rather than juxtapose unrelated figures with unverified outbreak claims .
The APC campaign had cited audited financial records showing that cumulative World Bank/International Development Association funds received by Oyo State under the project stood at approximately N9.832 billion as of December 31, 2024, with state contributions and other income bringing cumulative receipts to about N9.886 billion. It demanded the publication of updated project financial and implementation reports, including subsequent disbursements, expenditure by component, planned vaccination targets and actual coverage achieved .
The government said IMPACT financial and implementation reporting followed the project’s established audit and disclosure framework, and that the Ministry of Health welcomed scrutiny through appropriate channels. “Scrutiny is legitimate; using an unverified outbreak as a stage for political messaging is not,” the statement read .
The dispute comes amid a broader national diphtheria outbreak that has affected Nigeria since 2022. As of January 18, 2026, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 61,930 suspected cases, 40,460 confirmed cases and 2,151 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 5.3 per cent. Kano, Bauchi, Katsina, Yobe, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa and Plateau states accounted for 99.1 per cent of confirmed cases, while children aged one to 14 years constituted 64.8 per cent of confirmed cases, with 85.7 per cent unvaccinated . The outbreak has been concentrated in northern states, and Oyo State has not been among the worst-affected areas .
The political context of the dispute is significant. The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, with the governorship and state assembly elections scheduled for February 6. Governor Makinde, who is completing his second and final term, is contesting the presidency on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement, with former Director-General of the Department of State Services Lawal Daura as his running mate. Senator Sharafadeen Alli is the APC governorship candidate in Oyo State and is seeking to succeed Makinde. The exchange over diphtheria and immunisation funding reflects the broader political contest in the state, where the government’s record on healthcare and public health is likely to feature prominently in the campaign.
For the people of Oyo State, the dispute raises questions about the state of disease surveillance and immunisation coverage. The government has urged residents to rely on verified information on disease surveillance and immunisation, assuring them that it remains committed to protecting children and preventing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. For the APC campaign, the demand for accountability on the N9.8 billion World Bank project is an opportunity to challenge the government’s record. For the government, the response is an attempt to set the record straight and to frame the campaign’s claims as politically motivated misinformation. The coming weeks will determine whether the dispute remains a political exchange or whether it prompts a broader conversation about the state of immunisation in Oyo State.
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