Osun Govt Fires Back At Ex-Governor Oyetola, Denies Culpability In N700Million Contract Abnormally

The Osun State Information Commissioner, Alimi Kolapo, has reacted to claims made by the spokesman for ex-governor Gboyega Oyetola that the state under the leadership of Ademola Adeleke is to be blamed for the violation of procurement act reported by SaharaReporters.

In a statement sent to SaharaReporters, the commissioner postulated that such statements are untrue.

Kolapo said, “The attention of Osun state Government has been drawn to another big lie and deliberate distortion of facts by the spokesperson for the former Governor of Osun State, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, in person of Mr Ismail Omipidan, on a recent report by Sahara Reporters.”

The state government denied that the report published by SaharaReporters was orchestrated by it, noting that the investigation was “independently carried out by Sahara Reporters, without any input of Ademola Adeleke-led administration”.

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The statement, however, noted that “it is expedient to set the record straight, especially for the innocent members of the public to know the truth and nothing but the truth as opposed to a dummy already being sold to them, inter earlier, by Omipidan, all in an attempt to smear the rising profile of Ademola Adeleke led administration”.

He said, “When Sahara Reporters, in its investigation, discovered the anomalies by Oyetola- led administration and sought the reaction of Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the Hon. Comm. for Information and Public Enlightenment and Mallam Rasheed Olawale, the Chief Spokesperson to the Governor, none of us, told Sahara Reporters anything but asked for two weeks grace under which to carry out our own independent investigation, before commenting on the said report that emanated from Sahara Reporters.

“What informed the need for us to seek for two-week timeframe was to be able to get the necessary facts of the matter so as to insulate us from being accused of jumping into an unverified conclusion.

“However, Ismail Omipidan, in his usual belly-aching journalistic mischief, borne out of his endless futile attempts to paint Ademola Adeleke-led administration black, unintelligently, went ahead to allege Adeleke-led government as the sponsor of the Sahara Reporters findings.”

Kolapo also denied stating that the road project in Akoda was earlier awarded.

He said, “Furthermore, Mr Omipidan went ahead to put words in the mouth of Oluomo Kolapo Alimi that Alimi admitted that, the Akoda road dualisation project had earlier been awarded before the Osun State Government went back to perfect the due process.

“A blatant lie, it was and still is, in his usual mischievous and characteristics of always giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it, which, over the years has become his journalistic antics all in an attempt to curry the favour of his pay master, Mr Oyetola.

“What Oluomo Kolapo Alimi the Hon. Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment said and which is already in the public domain about the Akoda road dualisation project was that, at a point in time when it was painfully unmotorable for the motoring public to use, it was Ademola Adeleke-led administration that made a kind of palliative arrangements to make the passage of vehicles easier before the ongoing road project contract saw the light of the day.”

Kolapo Alimi also refuted claims that the state government was not going about its duties through due process, lampooning Ismail for suggesting such.

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He said, “It needs to be emphasized that the Government of Ademola Adeleke is always due process compliant and will not carry out any project without following the well-established standard practice of due process.

“Omipidan and his co-travellers in journalistic mischief should know and continue to know that the good people of Osun State are no fools as they have discovered that the immediate past administration of Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, will go down in history as the poorest ever experienced by the people of the state, which they pray, day and night, never to experience again.

“Omipidan and the Osun APC should know that there's no amount of packaging that could be done for the failed government of Mr Adegboyega Oyetola when he held forth as the Chief Executive to, curry the favour of Osun people again, in addition to his being judged recently throughout the Nigerian federation by independent observers as one of the worst performing Ministers in the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Executive Council (FEC).”

SaharaReporters earlier revealed how the Osun State government under the leadership of Gboyega Oyetola, awarded three contracts to the tune of N700 million between July 2020 and April 2021, for rehabilitation of one road.

A review showed that the state awarded three contracts for the same rehabilitation between July 2020 and April 2021.

These contracts totalled N700.2 million in cost at N233.4 million each.

All of these contracts were awarded through direct labour without any competitive bidding, in flagrant abuse of the Osun State Procurement Act, 2015.

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