- APC To Adeleke: Your mission is diversionary; to humiliate Oyetola
- PDP Counters; Osun APC Afraid of its Fraudulent Past
By Abiola Olawale
The Osun state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are at each other’s jugular over the recent constitution of a committee to implement the White Paper report submitted by the committee that reviewed the contracts awarded during the administration former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
This is as the Osun State chapter of the APC lambasted Governor Ademola Adeleke over the timing of the constitution of an eight-man implementation panel on the White Paper on Contract probe panel to look into contracts awarded during the administration of the immediate-past Governor, now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy.
In his remarks on the development, the Osun State APC chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, described the setting up of the implementation committee as a ploy to cover up the frauds of his 16-month-old administration which were uncovered by the APC on Tuesday.
Lawal queried how on earth the Adeleke administration has been awarding road contracts at the unprecedented cost of N2.5 billion per kilometer, which is even considered excessively insane for riverine areas, would now be talking of a readiness to probe a known prudent administration of Oyetola.
The state APC chairman wondered how a government that has been awarding non-functional boreholes across the state at an alarming rate of N14 million each would settle to probe his predecessor who did the same at less than N2 million each.
Lawal disclosed that it was ludicrous that an administration that awarded road/flyover contracts to the serving deputy speaker of the state House of Assembly without following due process would now suddenly consider the setting up of an implementation panel of the White Paper on the Contract Review Committee.
The state APC chairman also wondered why it was a day after his party accused Governor Adeleke of awarding state road/flyover contracts to his brother and nephew, David Adeleke aka Davido, that he considered it expedient to take a pound of flesh from the opposition.
“Adeleke should tread softly as Osun people are now wiser and knowledgeable enough to read the true motive of his action meant to unjustifiably victimize the opposition for having the effrontery to catalog the series of frauds his government is perpetrating against the state in the name of prosecution of legacy projects,” the statement reads in part.
Reacting to the APC’s comments, the Osun state chapter of the PDP lambasted the opposition party for questioning the decision of the Governor to implement the white paper on contract awards during Oyetola’s administration.
The Osun State Chairman of the PDP, Hon Sunday Bisi, in a statement issued on Friday and made available to the New Diplomat said the APC is jittery that its four years of plundering Osun state between 2018 to 2022 is about to be exposed for criminal prosecution.
The chairman said that the recent constitution of a committee by Adeleke is not a fresh move, rather it is a follow-up of the Executive Order he issued when he assumed office in 2022.
The statement reads, “The contract review committee conducted an extensive investigation on contracts awarded from 2018 to 2022. It sat between late 2022 to 2023 with many top officials of the Oyetola administration appearing before it. The huge report of the committee was followed with a White Paper recommendations for which the Governor has now set up a committee for implementation.
“The implementation panel is the final stage of a process that started in 2022. The day of reckoning is here, hence the trepidation within the State APC. When Oyetola officials appeared before the review committee, a lot of fraudulent irregularities, serious breaches of procurement laws, diversion of billions of naira, non-execution of fully paid contracts, and barefaced theft of state assets were discovered and documented.
“The government has a responsibility to bring to book culprits within the legal framework. The state government is obliged to ensure the implementation of the white paper irrespective of failed blackmail by perpetrators of yesterday’s corruption. The state needs no permission from corrupted agents of yesteryears as to when and how the law should take its course.
“If the Oyetola regime was that saintly, how come its officials during testimonies before the review committee practically collapsed when confronted with evidence of their misdeeds? How come the Osun APC itself is crying wolf when its antii-people records are about to be shown to the whole world?
The PDP also denied allegations that the administration of Adeleke is not following due process in awarding contracts. The party also described allegations that Adeleke is awarding contracts to his family members as false and baseless.
“As a party, we also submit that the state government is in full compliance with the procurement laws as all allegations from the opposition are meant to derail the state government from implementing the multi-billion naira infrastructure plan. The execution of projects are ongoing and they will be delivered before the mid-term of this administration.
“We also strongly submit that no member of the Adeleke family is involved in any state contract as we firmly refute allegations against Dr Deji Adeleke and Mr David Adeleke. The family is only supporting and rightly so, one of their own to deliver on good governance in Osun state.
“While the party called on relevant state agencies to give effect to extant laws on the spreading of fake news, it declared that freedom of speech is not equal to maligning, seditious, libelous, and character assassination through fake news.
“The party commends Governor Adeleke for demonstrating statesmanship by his resolve to implement the white paper on the Contract review committee, urging Committee members to deploy the law to
