APC REPLIES GOVERNOR ADELEKE ON $20 MILLION SAVE ONE MILLION LIVES PROGRAMME FUNDS MISMANAGEMENT AGAINST OYETOLA

BEING THE TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE SPURIOUS ALLEGATIONS OF THE EMBATTLED OSUN STATE GOVERNOR ADEMOLA ADELEKE (@AAdeleke_01) AGAINST FORMER STATE GOVERNOR ADEGBOYEGA OYETOLA (@GboyegaOyetola) NOW MINISTER OF MARINE AND BLUE ECONOMY AND SOME MEMBERS OF HIS CABINET ON THE $20 MILLION(N6.2 BILLION) SAVE-ONE-MILLION LIVES (SOML) PROGRAMME, ADDRESSED BY THE STATE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS(APC) DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AND INFORMATION, MOGAJI KOLA OLABISI, TODAY, 9TH MARCH, 2025, HELD AT ................, FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA.

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1. Gentlemen of the Press, we stand before you today to disclose our unhappiness about the political mockery going on in our state, Osun, a state noted for the erudition and political fecundity of her children.

2. In the last three weeks, Osun State has got negative and screaming headline reviews over the pomposity and recalcitrance of Governor Adeleke to obey a simple Court of Appeal judgement re-instating the sacked local government chairmen elected in October 2022 under the banner of APC.

3. Even when both the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, advised the governor to toe a path of honour, the rule of law and common-sense by implementing the judgement of the appellate court, Governor Adeleke, in an aberrant disposition, strange to democratic tenets and rule of law, has continued to encourage brazen lawlessness.

4. Many citizens have asked why the governor has been insisting on throwing caution to the wind and behaving morbidly like a bull in a china shop.

5. We have since realized that the feeding bottle taken away from Governor Adeleke and his government is the cause of their restiveness and anger. For over two years, the Adeleke government had a hold on the local government administration in the state, frittering the allocations meant for the local councils.

6. We are aware of how the government spent over N40 billion of the local government allocation to fund the Office of the Governor, devoting N11 billion to buy luxury cars for unproductive politicians, renovating the governor's lodges with over N5 billion, a contract awarded to his son-in-law who came only three times to supervise the project from his base in the United States of America, at a time allocations to key sectors of the economy like Health, Education, Sports, etc, are stunted and unavailable.

7. Tertiary, secondary and primary education in the state are starved of the needed supports meanwhile, the members of the governor's kitchen cabinet drive in the latest Prado Landcruiser Jeep each costing N150 million.

8. The government officials have been so engrossed in the extravagant lifestyle made possible through the local government allocations that they found it troubling to adjust to the new status quo. The status quo is that the reinstated local government executives have since returned to office and begun to initiate policies that would bring succour to the people of Osun State who elected them in October 2022.

9. Having realized that the sources of their maniacal and luxury lifestyle have stopped, Governor Adeleke and his handlers have been troubling the peace of the state.

10. When the attempt to force their ways to the local government council offices failed, they are now resorting to another crude tactics of attempting to tarnish the image of the former governor of the state, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, a man of candour and probity who served the state honourably.

11. In the recent propaganda escalated to the country's anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC), chronicling falsehood to soil the name of Oyetola and those who worked in his government, the Adeleke government said the $20m Save-One-Million Lives (SOML) Programme was stolen and was not used for the purpose it was meant for.

12. SOML is a World Bank project designed to save the lives of mothers and children through health services. The fund received by Osun State Government was comprehensively monitored by the donor. We will share with you, the gentlemen of the Press, details of how the Oyetola government enhanced and scaled up health in Osun through the grant. We invite the media and the public to peruse the document, containing the pictures of facilities and programmes executed with the fund to verify our claims of the commitment of the ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to good governance and transparency.

13. Not only was the fund used to improve health in the state, the contract awards followed the relevant procurement laws of the state. We make bold to state that no Commissioner, Adviser or Appointee of ex-Governor Oyetola was awarded contracts while serving in his government. We challenge the state government, who is now on a witch-hunting mission, to publish names of contractors and date of contract awards to substantiate their evil narrative.

14. Does Governor Adeleke think trumping lies to cast aspersion on the government of his predecessor will make the EFCC to sweep under the carpet the investigation against Adeleke's lapdog, the Deputy Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Akinyode Oyewusi and Kazeem Akinleye, the Chief of Staff to Governor Adeleke?

15. Two companies founded by Oyewusi, Raregode Nigeria Limited and Acumen Forte Limited were awarded joint contracts worth over N10 billion at a time Oyewusi was still a serving Deputy Speaker of the state assembly. Raregode Limited is a fertilizer distribution company with no history of road construction but strangely, the Adeleke government awarded the whooping contracts to it.

16. Similarly, the Chief of Staff to Governor Adeleke, Alhaji Kazeem Akinleye, used his closeness to government to obtain for a company founded by him, Akinkaz Interbiz Limited government contracts. The company was awarded multi-billionaire TETFUND project in Osun State University ( UNIOSUN) and University of Ilesa.

17. An NGO, League of Peace Ambassadors, Humanity and Human Right Advocates petitioned the anti-graft agency, EFCC, on April 16, 2024 about the shady and fraudulent contracts Governor Adeleke awarded to his appointees and cronies. Here is the Petition. More than a year ago. And we are aware that the EFCC are about to file formal charges against these characters who violated their oaths of office as public servants.

18. The cases of Governor Adeleke's family members and officials using their closeness to government and privileged positions to corner undeserved contracts against extant laws abound. Dr Deji Adeleke (the governor's brother and father of the popular singer, Davido) has been entangled in this web of contract racketeering as his name has surfaced severally in the controversial borehole projects allegedly installed in selected wards in the state. He was alleged to have secured a borehole project for N14 million, many of which ended not being built. The similar borehole projects, but with all the ancillary facilities, were built in the health centres rehabilitated under our administration for less than N2 million each. It is painful that imaginary and audio borehole projects were allegedly superintended by Dr Deji Adeleke for insanely N14 million while similar projects, which are still functioning till today, were built for less than N2 million each. It is not a gainsaying that Dr Deji Adeleke has been operating behind the scene as the unofficial Governor-General of the state; Mrs Dupe Adeleke-Sanni, the governor's elder sister has secured the role of the governor-in-charge of administration for herself while the governor who was elected has been titular and ridiculously playing the role of a governor-in-charge of entertainment to the consternation of the right-thinking members of the society. The situation is that bad in our state.

19. Under Governor Adeleke, public procurement in Osun has become an ojuju-Calabar, an euphemism for secret-cult government.

20. A notable transparency advocacy group, BudgIT, has reported that Osun State Government has refused to publish relevant information on the state's e-procurement portal. According to the civic organisation, which uses creative technology to simplify public information, Osun State's performance on the fiscal transparency league table was impacted by late submission of Accountant General's report "and the absence of 2024 data on the e-procurement portal." The state, therefore, was advised to prioritize the timely submission of financial reports and update its e-procurement platform with current data.

21. The state was equally advised to invest in the digital transformation of procurement processes and ensure regular system updates to strengthen transparency and efficiency in public financial management. In its Q2 2024 report, BudgIT raises similar concerns, scoring the state 5 out of 11 in e-procurement system because the e-procurement portal lacked up to date documents. The group also has scathing remarks for the state in its Q1 2024 report, saying Osun had no scores for comprehensiveness....just as it adds that the citizens budget was not timely published.

22. It is shocking to note that the state government under the leadership of Governor Ademola Adeleke, which has been serially accused of running a secret-cult government owing to its penchant for hiding details of financial and procurement transactions of the state, is the one raising frivolous allegations again his predecessor adjudged the best in financial transparency by the World Bank.

23. Unlike the Oyetola government which uploaded no fewer than 110 contract and procurement details on the state government portal in a spate of three years, the current government has only published seven (7) contract details in two years, raising eyebrows about the government's commitment to accountability and transparency.

24. If the current jesters think sponsoring mudslinging would discourage APC from giving life to the judgement of the Court of Appeal reinstating its chairmen and councilors, then the government should bury the thought. The Chairmen and Councillors have come to stay and they are resolute on giving a dividend of democracy to the people of Osun.

25. Gentlemen of the press, it would be offensive to your senses of hearing to learn that Governor Ademola Adeleke runs the most nepotistic administration ever in the history of the 34-year-old state where he combines the ministry of works with his own portfolio apart from the fact that he appointed his late brother's wife the commissioner in charge of Abuja Affairs and one of the late brother's children, Tunji Adeleke Jnr who had just left university without any working experience, the chairman of the state local government commission. The nephew in question operates from his base in the United States of America.

26. We know the discerning minds would be forced to ask why the embattled Governor Adeleke is now waking up from his slumber to come with such contrived allegations against the state leader of our party, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, and some of the members of his cabinet, towards the tail end of the four-year tenure of his administration and at a time that Governor Adeleke's political party lost the control of the local government councils via the landmark Court of Appeal judgement of 10th of February, 2025 that reinstated the APC council chairmen and councillors in the state?

27. Why would Governor Adeleke be trumping up lies against his predecessor a year to his re-election? What has he been doing since November 2022 when he assumed office? Did the late President Sani Abacha wait for one year before he arrested, handcuffed and detained the late Isiaka Adeleke ( Governor Ademola Adeleke's elder brother who was the first civilian governor of Osun State) in 1994 for stealing plumbing materials belonging to the state government?

28. Did the former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola wait for one year before he dragged Chief Bisi Akande's officials and appointees to court for fraud, even though they were later found innocent?

29. The unfolding political event is a pointer to the fact that Governor Adeleke has lost the government. He has equally lost the street, so he is struggling to hold on to a straw for survival. He should obey the Court of Appeal judgement of the 10th day of February, 2025 that reinstated the APC local government chairmen and councillors in the interest of the rules of law.

30. Gentlemen of the press, we want to state unequivocally that Governor Oyetola followed all legal and procedural requirements in governance. The claim that he "flouted procurement rules" is misleading, as contracts were awarded in line with the Osun State Public Procurement Law.

31. The committee making these claims was set up by the new administration to witch-hunt the former Governor Oyetola. This is a clear case of political vendetta rather than a genuine fight against corruption.

32. On the Money Laundering allegation leveled against the Association of Local Government of Nigeria ( ALGON), we maintain that even though the accusation is grave, the claim is unproven. If a civil servant was withdrawing N100 million daily, as claimed, where are the bank records showing this? If funds were mismanaged, was there an official audit by an independent agency? The existence of financial transactions does not automatically indicate wrongdoing without proper forensic investigation.

33. For emphasis, the USD20.467M was converted to a total sum of N6.26 billion credited by the CBN to Osun State Government account domiciled in the apex bank. Facts are at the CBN to substantiate our claims.

34. Governance should be about truth and due process, not political revenge. If there is proof, take it to court. If not, stop misleading the public. Oyetola’s legacy remains one of responsible leadership, and no amount of politically-motivated accusations will change that.

35. Thank you for your time.