Account for over N200bn FG allocations, others collected in 15 months —  Osun APC tasks Gov. Adeleke

…APC paranoid over Adeleke’s performance, programmes — PDP

By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo

The All Progressives Congress (APC), in Osun has chided the state Governor, Ademola Adeleke for fiddling and making merry in far away Lagos when the state is burning on account of his nonchalant attitude to the welfare of the citizens of the State.

The party recalled that Governor Adeleke became an instant article of joke when he turned himself to a video vixen at the 82nd birthday anniversary of the ace Juju musician, Ebenezer Olasupo Obey-Fabiyi popularly known as ‘Ebenezer Obey’ held in Lagos last Wednesday, at a time civil servants and pensioners in the state were yet to receive their wages for the month of March.

In his remark on the development, the Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi yesterday, said there was nothing wrong in a governor honouring an illustrious Nigerian like Chief Ebenezer Obey, but the timing was most inappropriate.

He stressed that Governor Adeleke did not deem it fit to discharge his statutory obligations at home, despite the increased federal allocation to the state.

He questioned the rationale behind the frolicking session of Governor Adeleke when he abruptly stopped the public school feeding programme which recorded appreciable success during the administrations of his predecessors.

In the words of the Osun State APC chairman, ”What could have been the source of joy of a state executive who has been digging a gutter when the houses of the governed are on metaphorical fire in the state?

“I keep wondering why Governor Adeleke who could not justify the receipt of the over N200 billion (net) in Federal allocation within the 15 months of his administration, coupled with N14 billion cash in bank he inherited from the former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, is always comfortable attending night clubs, disco parties and social events in Lagos and Abuja.

“Could there be a justifiable reason under the sun for a governor who could not properly account for N39.5billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2023; series of the Federal Government palliative supports meant for the poor amounting to over N13 billion and other revenues from some donor agencies, could take to dancing and frolicking in the public?

“Why have the state workers and pensioners not received their inadequate palliative wages for the month of March? It is either the governor is wicked or the state is broken. Even if the payment is effected today, 9th day of April, it can’t atone for the suffering the governor has made the innocent workers and senior citizens to go through.

“It shall be written in pencil against his name at the end of his ignominious tenure that Governor Adeleke came, danced, sang but refused to do the right thing,” Lawal stated.

Reacting to the development, the ruling  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described recent press releases from the opposition as “a demonstration of desperation, disappointment and depression at the superlative performance of Governor Ademola Adeleke, leading to blind fabrication of fake news, false figures and outright lying.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday at Osogbo, the ruling party noted about five press releases from the opposition littered with falsehood and barely disguised anger at great developments in Osun State and advised the opposition to toe the path of honour by conceding defeat even before the 2026 election.

The government noted that from the reactions and conduct of the state APC, Governor Adeleke has clearly overwhelmed the opposition and that the reactive strategy of dishing out propaganda and deliberate misinformation has further reduced the opposition approval rating to below 10 percent with that of Mr Governor at super high level.

The statement posited that across Osun state and in all the sectors, Governor Adeleke is making significant impact which is acknowledged by residents and non-residents and which has earned the Governor many unsolicited awards from several reputable media and non-governmental platforms, urging the opposition to accept that at near mid-term, Governor Adeleke has surpassed its records of between 2018 to 2022.

Within one and half years in office, Governor Adeleke has delivered what the former Government could not achieve in four years and within the same period, the current government has ignited massive development never contemplated in education, heath, water, infrastructure and workers welfare.

“A party which failed to pay half salary debt and pension arrears while in office is not ashamed to point accusing fingers at an Adeleke government that is clearing all those debts and uplifting the living conditions of workers and pensioners.

“A party under whose watch several pensioners died is reprehensibly attacking an Adeleke government that is not only paying pensioners regularly alongside the debt but has also enrolled all those pensioners in state health insurance schemes to cater for their health needs.

“An Osun APC that wickedly abandoned several roads and building projects is today having the temerity to challenge an Adeleke government that has completed several of such projects, saving billions of naira of state funds from waste and demonstrating that government is a continuum.

“A party that failed woefully for four years has not learnt any lesson, hence its dishonorable lies about a federal school feeding programme which the Federal Government stopped to allow for investigation into a multi-billion naira fraud.

“It is shocking that a failed party and desperate operatives cannot devise a more positive approach to opposition activism than to raise false flags, spread fake news and dish out disinformation which constantly backfires and further paint the opposition as a party that should be resoundingly rejected in the 2026 governorship election.

“We submit further that only an enemy of the people, only a party of failed records will not see the over 90 kilometers of roads constructed across the 30 local governments and area council, the completed Ikirun-Osogbo road (phase1), the completed ring road at Osogbo, the several completed school rehabilitation, the water projects currently being enjoyed by the people, the ongoing rehabilitation of several water works across the state, the several health intervention projects among others.

“Only a party that is doomed for failure in 2026 will deny the massive construction ongoing in Osun State from the flyover to road dualisation which several visitors confirmed has turned Osun into a huge construction site.

“Osun is proud of Governor Adeleke who refused to draw security votes and instead directed that such funds should be channeled to the development of the state.

“Osun is proud of his Governor who promised workers’ welfare as a first line charge and has remained faithful to that pledge since he assumed office.

“Osun is full of praise for Governor Adeleke who met a derelict Governor’s office but uplifted it; who met a run down Government House but upgraded it; who met an abandoned VIP Guest House but redesigned and completed it within a record time.

“Osun is in love with a Governor who is tasking himself and all appointees on the implementation of ongoing multi-billion naira infra plan that is designed to address the inherited 80 percent infrastructure deficit.

“If in one and half years in office, Governor Adeleke has delivered  so much, Osun people are clearly proud of their decision to vote out Mr Oyetola in 2022 and their anticipated decision to re-elect Governor Adeleke in 2026.”