The Obafemi/Owode local government screening committee for the Chairmanship aspirants in the July 24 local government elections in Ogun State has rejected plans by some individuals to drag the committee’s reports in the mud.
The committee in a statement signed by its Secretary, Mr Clement Adeniyi and made available to our Correspondent said it however in the face of spurious reports, particularly one written by “faceless” Comr Samson Adekunle from Asipa village, remained undaunted to present a befitting Chairmanship candidate for the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local government.
The committee said it has noted with dismay the bundles of lies as allegedly written by the “faceless” Comr Samson Adekunle and posted on several social media platforms wherein the Chief Kola Sorinola-led APC Screening Committee for the local government was solely maligned for the purpose of rubbishing the committee’s report.
The committee said, “We wish to state that the story was mischievous and an attempt to mislead the general public against the Screening Committee and the good work of the Committee.”
It disclosed further that it was also obvious and evident that “the writer of this misleading story did not research the power and responsibilities of the committee on the screened Chairmanship aspirants before polluting the public with falsehood, erroneous and fallacious claims against the committee and its Chairman.”
Speaking further, the committee said, “We are Local Government Chairmanship Screening Committee and not DSS whose functions include: prevention, detection and investigation of criminalities. Our function is to screen all the aspirants which were 12 in number. We’re according to the party higher authority to request for the aspirants’ necessary credentials such as: Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC), academic certificates, Permanent voter’s card, Party membership card etc.
“As a committee, the Party did not authorize us to investigate any aspirant as per the documents presented to us or otherwise. The party will further investigate all aspirants and every document presented.”
The statement revealed further that the Secretary of the Screening Committee did also not write any academic institution to investigate the genuinity of academic certificate of any aspirant and this is because he was not given such power and authority to do so.
The committee said, it therefore wishes to clear that the Secretary’s name was used by some unscrupulous persons to draft a letter in respect of this, and further used his appellation to make it look real. The committee stated that this was how it received a petition during the local government leaders’ meeting held at the Assembly Quarters of the lawmaker representing the Local Government State Constituency, Hon. Damilola Kayode Soneye, on 17th May, 2021 but when the Chairman of the Screening Committee, Chief Kola Sorinola put a call through to the Deputy Registrar of the academic institution to confirm the authenticity of the letter stating that a particular aspirant did not graduate from the school, the Deputy Registrar said she never wrote such letter.
The committee added, “Having explained all these, the Screening Committee on behalf of the entire good people of Obafemi Owode Local Government and its environ, advised those who derive joy in politics of bitterness and dirty politics to change their ways and believe in the saying that, Que Sera, Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be! The committee has therefore urged members of the public to ignore the tissues of lies as contained in the report of the faceless Comr Samson Adekunle titled ‘Disco Of Forgery And Perjury In Obafemi Owode Local Government: Anarchy And Injustice Takes The Center Stage’ as efforts are ongoing to ensure that the party faithfuls in the local government are presented with befitting Chairmanship candidate.”