The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has told the people of the state to be wary of what it termed the “deceitful approach” of Governor Ademola Adeleke to governance.
In a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital on Wednesday, the APC acting state chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal alleged that Adeleke has swindled the people of the state by spending N941,850, 000.00 to buy rice for the members and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Lawal said that it was “disturbing, worrisome and disheartening that a state governor that has spent barely three weeks in the office could deep his hand into the kitty of the government without recourse to the state House of Assembly, moreso when the money involved is slated for capital projects across the nooks and crannies of the state”.
He said that the APC stumbled on a letter where Adeleke, through the state Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, directed the diversion of the money meant for the generality of the people of the state.
The APC helmsman alleged that, in a 16th December 2022 letter issued and signed by the Coordinating Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Femi Ogundun, Adeleke approved N13,650,000 for each of the 69 Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas and area offices to purchase Christmas and New Year gifts for political loyalists.
According to Lawal, Adeleke also directed that N13,440,000, being the cost of the rice, and transportation cost of N210,000 should be paid by each of the councils to Hill Crest Agro-Allied Industries Limited with account number 1014686758.
He said that the governor’s approval letter, through the Coordinating Director to each of the Heads of Local Government Administration in the state, reads: “I wish to convey the approval of His Excellency, the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke to your local government to access the sum of N13,650,000.00 only from your Statutory Allocation Account in Wema Bank Plc, Ede for the purpose of procuring bags of rice as Christmas and New Year gifts to the citizens in the local government”.
The APC acting state chairman observed that the whole rice purchasing saga was an indication that Adeleke is a “political neophyte who knows next to nothing about governance”.
Lawal asked Adeleke on whose authority he dipped his hands into the local governments’ kitty without recourse to the state House of Assembly?
In the APC chairman’s words: “It is obvious that the Osun State people have boarded a metaphorical one-chance vehicle with Governor Adeleke in the driver’s seat of governance in the state.
“When did the confused Governor Adeleke defreeze the government accounts in the state as it was contained in one of his obnoxious Executive Orders that he reeled out on the day of his inauguration?
“It’s a pity that, as usual, Adeleke has missed it again as he succeeded in exposing himself as a total stranger to governance.
“What right has the governor to use the local government SURE-P (Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme) fund meant for the provision of capital projects at the grassroots to buy Christmas rice for the members of his party?
“Why was he denying before now that he would never spend the government’s money to advance the cause of his political party and its members?
“Why has Adeleke been running the affairs of the state as if it is an enterprise of his family in Ede?
“Who owns the Hill Crest Agro-Allied Industries Limited, Zenith Bank Account number 1014686758 into which Adeleke directed the money for the rice to be paid.
“Adeleke should also be on hand to explain to the members of his party in particular and the people of Osun in general why he contracted out the rice supply to a Kwara State-based company owned by one Serah Alade that has a robust relationship with the former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and the governor’s elder sister, Mrs Dupe Adeleke-Sanni, when there are copious rice dealers in Osun State?
“Why does Adeleke think that he has the unilateral limitless power and authority to frivolously dip his hands into the local government covers in order to satisfy the members of his party?
“The people of the state need to be extra-vigilant with this strange and awkward approach to governance so that the gains of yesterday would not be avoidably eroded”, Lawal warned.
