The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Wednesday that the state governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has wasted over N90 billion in three months.
The party said that his first 100 days in office were boring and unpleasant because huge amounts of money, about N90 billion, that came into the state’s coffers were wasted and not accounted for.
Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, the party chairman, said this at a press conference at the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Office in Osogbo.
Speaking to reporters through the party’s Director of Media, Chief Kola Olabisi, the chairman said that, in addition to the regular FAAC payment of N15 billion that Adeleke’s administration received because of how well the former governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, ran the state, the state government had also received about N11 billion from Siftas, N5 billion from NG CARES, and N6.7 billion from the Federal Government’s parastatal tax liability.
Lawal said that the Adeleke-led government had received another N3.2 billion for Nigeria for Women project and N4.9 billion for the State Ease of Doing Business Reforms, among other things, in the last three months. This is on top of the N14 billion that the Oyetola administration left in the budget, which brings the total to over N60 billion.
The State APC Acting Chairman also said that Adeleke’s administration had mismanaged and stolen N30 billion that was supposed to go to the 30 Local Government Areas and the Ife-East Area Office in the last 100 days of running the state.
Lawal criticised Adeleke for running a dubious government and said that the troubled governor had not shown the people he is focused because “he has been operating like a bull in a china shop.”
He said Adeleke’s record in all areas of the economy was a colossal failure, which was shown by the fact that he signed a lot of controversial executive orders, including one that humiliated three already-crowned monarchs by telling them to stay away from their palaces for no good reason.
“It will be pedestrian and monochromatic to talk about the Adeleke promised intervention in the primary health projects across the state and sinking of boreholes in each of the 332 wards across the state as a random investigation of the same, like others, has shown that they are only a mirage and delusion which are only existing in the imagination of the sacked governor and his co-travellers.
“The list of such fraudulent projects which Adeleke has slated for commissioning is legendary! The most dubious of the superfluous projects is the N16 billion so-called Digital Economy, with no clear-cut understanding of what the administration wants to spend N16 billion on.
“We want to state clearly here for the knowledge of the people of the state that the so-called Osun Tech Revolution project that Adeleke inaugurated with fanfare three days ago is a scam skillfully orchestrated to swindle the state as it isn’t a new project. It was Oodua Infraco that was given its approval by President Buhari Muhammed’s administration which had earlier approached the government of Oyetola for the approval of the government right of way which was joyously granted free of charge as it was found out that it would be beneficial to the people of the state.”
“It was for lack of nothing tangible to showcase that is making Adeleke to fraudulently role out the drums, counting same as part of his achievements under the 100 days of his administration.”
“The telemedicine that Adeleke was busy talking about is like building something on nothing as majority of the inhabitants of the state are ruralites who cannot afford internet-compliant telephone sets. How will this set of people access telemedicine? The only way of taking care of the health of the rural people is by strengthening primary health care system”.
“It is on record that the Oyetola administration succeeded in making available functional primary healthcare delivery system adequately equipped with drugs and manpower whom Adeleke sacked. The telemedicine stuff by Adeleke is a mere political jamboree dubiously designed to syphon the state of funds, which could be said to be dead on arrival.
“The project is a scam as a certain level of physical contact is needed for observation and inspection in order to achieve effective healthcare service delivery.”
Lawal said it is disheartening to know that in the first three months of Adeleke’s term, over 1,500 teachers and volunteers of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) employed by Adeleke’s predecessor were sacked without fair reason while he was mocking the current governor for wrecking the state’s economy.
“Adeleke also sacked 500 health workers when there were not enough of the required health staff in the state. Adeleke has been using political hoodlums to torment, harass, maim and kill members of the opposition APC members before, during and after the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“Within the period under review, the embattled governor succeeded in dissolving the age-long National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state and promptly and surprisingly replaced them with handpicked and heavily compromised Park Managers under the leadership of a notorious and daredevil political thug who hails from Osogbo.”
