The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state Governor Ademola Adeleke and his co-travellers of injecting a panicking measure to his administration for fear of unknown over the planned massive defection of some of the leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP into the APC in thousands.

Information has it that Governor Adeleke and the chairman of the Osun State chapter of the PDP, Mr Sunday Bisi, hurriedly caused a meeting of some of the hitherto neglected state leaders of the PDP to be held at the state Government House, in order to show the continuous phoney loyalty of the said party leaders to the PDP subsequent to the planned defection of Omo Oba Dotun Babayemi and Dr Akin Ogunbiyi with the thousands of their supporters.

The media spaces of both print, electronics and social extractions have been awashed with the news of the planned defection of Babayemi, former PDP governorship aspirant and Ogunbiyi who was also a PDP and Accord Party’s governorship aspirant who slugged it out with Governor Adeleke during the 2022 general elections.

Investigation across the state has shown that the state PDP leadership has not been at ease since the resolve of Ogunbiyi and Babayemi to defect to the APC with their supporters across the nooks and crannies of the state.

In his reaction to 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, observed that “whatever political misfortune that is befalling Adeleke and his cohorts stemming from the massive harvesting of the PDP members and leaders by the APC is as a result of greed on the part of Adeleke and his Pathfinder Osun PDP faction.”

Lawal pointed out that no matter the meeting Governor Adeleke held with the hitherto neglected Osun State PDP leaders whether it’s under reconciliation or harmonisation of the leaders, it wouldn’t achieve any desired result as the governor has proved, through his misconduct after the Supreme Court declared him the winner of the governorship election, that he is neither a gentleman nor a promise keeper.

The state APC chairman stated that it was funny that it was after 17 months that Adeleke has been in government that he could deem it fit to know that some of the leaders of his party whose goodwill saw him to the governorship seat in the state are still existing.

He explained that the plight of Governor Adeleke could be likened to a hunter who rallied experienced leaders of his group to engage in a hunting expedition which subsequently becomes successful while the hunter chased away with cutlasses all those who contributed for his victory during the hunting expedition and makes himself the unilateral decider of who takes what.

Lawal stated that the euphoria of office and greed have robbed Adeleke of the ability to think before now that his office is a tenured one which would need renewal after four years.

He said, “How on earth would Governor Adeleke think that he could assuage some of his party leaders that he had been instrumental to their political mob attacks in the past because of his rabid ambition to forcefully become the governorship candidate of the PDP before the last general elections in the state?

“What is the propriety of Senator Adeleke, a PDP governor, to turn the State Government House into a party secretariat where the activities of the party are being run as well as in the Ede country home of the Adelekes?

“If my memory is not failing me, it is on record that since Adeleke became the state governor some 17 months ago, he has visited the state PDP Secretariat only once which made the party office to have been overgrown with weeds and desolate condition.

“It is late in the day for Adeleke to be contemplating holding of any reconciliation and harmonisation meeting(s) of the glaringly robbed and shortchanged  disenchanted leaders of the state PDP as there is nothing to show that it will be  done with utmost good faith.

“The fear of the defection of Babayemi and Ogunbiyi from the PDP to the APC is the beginning of wisdom for Governor Adeleke and his cohorts.

“We are not unaware as a party that Governor Adeleke himself has lost count of the number of the frivolous appointments of unmerited Special Advisers (without cabinet), Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants under his administration in order to hang on to power.

“Let’s make it abundantly clear to Governor Adeleke that even if he appoints all the people of Osun State his political functionaries, such executive recklessness would not, in any way, confer any special advantage on him as the PDP government would be sent packing in the state through democratic means by the way of the forthcoming 2026 elections in the state,” Lawal told Adeleke.

By Elvis Omoregie, Benin

The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, on Monday suspended three members of the house over an alleged plot to impeach him and other Principal Officers Council,  POC.

The three lawmakers were suspended at plenary.

The suspended lawmakers are two Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and one All Progressives Congress, APC, members.

The lawmakers are Okogbe Ojeneh Donald, PDP, Akoko-Edo II, Addeh Emankhu Isibor, APC, Esan North-East I and Iyamu Bright, PDP, Orhionnwon II.

Agbebaku, who said the trio were suspended indefinitely, alleged that they plot to change the leadership of the house.

He alleged  that the three suspended members were being influenced by external forces to cause chaos and remove the leadership of the house.

He also alleged that some persons brought native doctors into the house at midnight on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 to make some demonic incantations and dropped charms in the assembly complex.

The suspension of the lawmakers, however, created tension at the house as the affected lawmakers kicked against their suspension.

In a rowdy session, the three suspended lawmakers were seen screaming, “Mr speaker you do not have the right to unilaterally suspend any member(s) of the house.

“You must call for votes. Allow members to vote on the matter,” they shouted.

The Speaker thereafter adjourned plenary abruptly.

The Presidential media team has responded to Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s comments on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project.

Replying the Vice President, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said, “Alhaji Atiku has been waging an unrelenting war against this all-important and transformative project for no justifiable reasons other than bad politics. Atiku knows that its grand success and other projects to be unfurled, such as the Badagry-Sokoto superhighway, will be a major boost for President Tinubu and finally upend his perennial presidential ambition.”

The Presidential aide also accused the former Vice President of breaching Public service regulations when he was in power.

Describing the allegations levelled against the President of favouritism in contract allocations, Onanuga noted that Seyi Tinubu has nothing to do with HiTech.

He explained that, “Seyi Tinubu is a 38-year-old adult who has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law. The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests.”

The full statement by Onanuga reads thus: “Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is fast developing a reputation for distorting and manipulating facts for his self-serving objective of discrediting the current administration.

“In his latest press statement, the defeated PDP presidential candidate made wild claims on a number of issues that need to be corrected so that the public will not be misled into accepting fallacies as the truth.

“The President Bola Tinubu-led administration believes that every true and patriotic Nigerian, regardless of political differences, should work to promote the unity and economic well-being of the country and not delegitimise genuine efforts of the Federal Government to encourage local and foreign investments into the economy.

“Contrary to Atiku’s claim, the Tinubu administration, within its first year, has attracted over $20 billion into the economy. While President Tinubu was in New Delhi, India for G20 Summit last year August, Indian business leaders committed over $14 billion in new investments.  A substantial part of this sum is already in the country.

“In an unmistakable vote of confidence in the economic reforms being executed by the Tinubu administration, foreign investment in Nigeria’s stock market has  ballooned, from N18.12 billion in Q1 2023  to N93.37 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 415%. The last time Nigeria saw such level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019, when N97.6 billion was invested. The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors.

“During President Tinubu’s  recent trip to The Netherlands, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced a fresh $ 250 million investment by Dutch businesses in Nigeria.

“Different sectors of the economy, especially telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, are attracting new Foreign Direct Investments from discerning investors who know Nigeria is a good market for bountiful returns.

“We found it strange that Alhaji Atiku could accuse President Tinubu of conflict of interest in the award of Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway to Hitech Construction Company which he claimed is owned by Chagoury family because the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, sits on the board of CDK, a tiles manufacturing company, based in Sagamu, Ogun State.

“Nigerians should, by now, be well accustomed to Atiku’s hypocrisy on many national issues. Is it not amusing that the former Vice President, a man who openly said he formed Intels Nigeria with an Italian businessman when he was serving in the Nigeria Customs Service, a clear breach of extant public service regulations, is now the one accusing someone else of conflict of interest?

“When he was Vice President of Nigeria between 1999-2007, he maintained his business links with Intels that won major port concession deals.

“Was this not an abuse of office, a flagrant violation of his oath, that a company where he was a co-owner won major government contracts and concessions when he was vice president?

“As Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, he approved sales of over 145 State-owned enterprises to his known friends and associates and openly said during his failed campaign for the presidency last year that he would do the same, if elected.

“It is important to state clearly that Seyi Tinubu is a 38 year-old adult who has a right to do business and pursue his business interests in Nigeria and anywhere in the world within the limits of the law. The fact that his father is now the President of Nigeria does not disqualify Seyi from pursuing legitimate business interests.

“For the record, Seyi joined the Board of Directors of CDK in 2018, more than six years ago. He is representing the interest of an investor company, in which he has interest. He is not a board member because his father is a friend of the Chagourys.  Information about owners and shareholders of CDK is a matter of public record that can be openly accessed from the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission and CDK’s.

“Atiku and his proxy did not need a little-known journal to recycle open-source information to make a fallacious argument. The Chairman of CDK and the highest shareholder of the company is respected General TY Danjuma (rtd). The Chagourys are minority shareholders in the company, and only one member of the clan is on its five-man board.

“We wonder how Seyi’s membership of the board of  CDK conflicts with Hitech Construction Company’s work on Lagos-Calabar Coastal superhighway.

“If not blinded by political ill-will, Alhaji Atiku knows that the right thing for him to do is to applaud President Tinubu for the ambitious and audacious Lagos-Calabar Highway, which was authorised by the Federal Executive Council.

“It is important to remind Alhaji Atiku that infrastructural projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway are used to galvanise the economy. In the US, President Joe Biden has used his $2 trillion bi-partisan infrastructure deal to revamp decaying American infrastructure and inject life into the US economy.

“How can an elder-statesman be waging a campaign of calumny against the economic fortunes and prosperity of a country he wishes to govern or trying to scuttle a project that will bring prosperity to nine coastal states and the nation in general?

“That Nigeria’s economy is being reclassified by the IMF as the fourth largest in Africa is stale news. This happened because of the devaluation of the Naira and President Tinubu’s determined effort to set the economy on the path of sustainable growth. Under  the progressive, bold, inventive, and innovative leadership of President Tinubu, Nigeria will bounce back to where it rightfully belongs as Africa’s largest market and biggest economy.

“The Tinubu administration targets a $1 trillion economy in the next few years, with audacious economic programmes and critical infrastructure projects in key sectors. With revenue rising in trillions and the creation of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund, which is poised to raise over N20 trillion this year alone, we have no doubt that the $ 1 trillion economy is realisable.”

Recall that the Former VP strongly condemned the demolition of properties in the Oniru corridor, including parts of Lagos State’s landmark, tourist, and recreational attractions, to make way for the Coastal Highway project.

Atiku criticised the lack of proper notification and the Tinubu-led government’s handling of the project, which he believes is a major hindrance to Nigeria’s ability to attract foreign direct investment.

In a statement issued on Sunday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku alleged that President Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech, the contractor handling the highway project, are the sole driving forces behind the rapid progress of the Coastal Highway project.

He claimed that the contract was awarded in violation of procurement regulations, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

Furthermore, Atiku highlighted a clear conflict of interest, pointing out that President Tinubu’s son and associates hold positions on the boards of companies owned by Gilbert Chagoury.

The former Vice President noted that “Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which manufactures ceramic tiles and sanitary towels.”