- Litany of controversies, allegations in less than two years in office
- Adeleke has committed impeachable offences, EFCC, ICPC should probe him – LP
- APC, PDP clash as governor defends actions
Since November 27, 2022, when Senator Ademola Adeleke was sworn-in as the sixth Executive Governor of Osun State, it has been a potpourri of allegations, counter-allegations and controversies for his administration.
Governor Adeleke started tough barely 24-hours after he was inaugurated as he issued six Executive Orders which he used in reversing the appointments and policies of his predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola of the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress.
Adeleke stirred the hornet’s nest by sacking about 12,000 workers said to have been illegally employed by Oyetola. Hardly would one mention any sector that Adeleke has not been controversial about. From award of contracts to allegations of corruption, aberration, sidelining due process and causing commotion in the traditional institution.
The governor allegedly fired 30 Permanent Secretaries, while Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, Segun Oladitan, and its members were suspended. The OSIEC chairman and members were fired for alleged abuse of office.
He dethroned three monarchs, whose installations were, allegedly, controversial. The three monarchs removed included Akinrun of Ikinrun, Yinusa Akadiri; Aree of Ire, Ademola Oluponle; and Owa of Igbajo, Gboyega Famodun.
Adeleke told the monarchs to vacate their palaces immediately, and instructed security operatives to take over the palaces.
His tough decisions caused a crisis in the affected communities as many residents and leadership of APC kicked against it.
Adeleke was also accused of politicising the state’s education sector by removing some rectors and replacing them with his kinsmen from Ede.
In July, 2023, Adeleke fired the Rector of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Tajudeen Odetayo on allegations of fund misappropriation and appointed Kehinde Alabi as acting Rector. Odetayo has dragged Adeleke to the National Industrial Court.
The APC accused Governor Adeleke of terminating the appointments of the principal officers of the University of Ilesa made by his predecessor because they share different political ideals.
There was another controversy for Adeleke’s government over the construction of a borehole per ward. Under the project, the state government claimed it had sunk a borehole in each of the 332 wards in the state.
“Another strong allegation of impropriety that Adeleke has been trying to wave away is that the governor, in connivance with his family members, has been defrauding Osun”
A civil society group, The Osun Masterminds, through its Executive Director, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, said its members visited several wards across the state, interacted with many residents and discovered that most of the boreholes were not functional.
Similarly, Osun APC had accused Adeleke of running a “wasteful administration” and embarking on projects without due process.
The chairman of the opposition party, Tajudeen Lawal, claimed that, “Adeleke within the period under the spotlight awarded the dubious borehole water contracts to be sunk in each of all the 332 wards across the state at a cost of N14 million each.
But, the state government debunked the allegations, saying the boreholes were functional and that each cost N1.5million.
After several months of sacking the three traditional rulers, Governor Adeleke issued a White Paper on the reports submitted by the committee he set up on chieftaincy matters and directed fresh selection in Igbajo and another in Iree after aggrieved parties might have withdrawn their cases in court.
Sadly, the new and controversial appointments of monarchs in Igbajo and Iree caused more allegations of illegalities, high-handedness and injustice for the incumbent government led by Adeleke.
Defending the appointments, the state government rebuffed APC’s claims, declaring that the appointments were in line with tradition and chieftaincy laws.
In a statement signed by Kolapo Alimi, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, the state government maintained that allegations of misconduct, corruption and abuse of power are unfounded and baseless.
Also, some stakeholders faulted Adeleke for allegedly disregarding the rule of law in the appointment of the new Aree of Iree, Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Muritala Oyelakin.
While the pending matter has yet to be withdrawn as directed owing to the strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, Osun State branch, the state government proceeded with the fresh selection in contravention of the white paper.
After the controversial fresh selection process on February 22, 2023, the kingmakers, it was gathered, proceeded to an Osun State High Court sitting in Ikirun on Monday, March 11, with an application of withdrawal of the pending matter sequel to the decision of JUSUN to call-off its over three months strike.
Also, Governor Adeleke contravened Section 20, sub section (2) of the Chief’s Law (cap.25) Laws of Osun State, 2002 by approving the selection of Oyelakin before the statutory 21 days.
“The law says that after selection of a monarch might have been done, the governor shall not approve or set aside that selection until after 21 days. Recall that the selection of Oyelakin was made on February 22, 2024 while Governor Ademola approved it by issuing an approval letter to Oyelakin on March 6, 2024.
“This action by the governor makes the letter of approval illegal and a violation of the same law that Governor Adeleke swore to obey,” one of the contestants to the Aree throne from Olubonku Ruling House, Prince Afolabi Ali stated.
Recently, the completion of the renovation of the Osun State Government House, Oke-Fia, was greeted with brickbats and allegations of spending N18 billion to renovate the Government House.
The APC then called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission, to look into the finances of the state to curb ongoing corruption in the state.
The party said, “We want to use this medium to call on the anti-graft agencies, especially the ICPC and EFCC, to immediately move in their men to Osun State to halt the reckless mismanagement of public funds which is now endemic under the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke.”
Meanwhile, Adeleke faulted claims by the APC that his administration spent N18 billion to renovate the Government House, describing the party’s claim as fake news.
He added that the administration did not borrow such for its infrastructure project as claimed by the APC.
The governor’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, described the APC as a party struggling to cope with the reality of its failure in government.
“I want to reject the fake news that the state government spent N18 billion on the renovation of the Government House. It is a figment of the imagination of failed men of yesterday. Rather than sponsoring falsehood, we urge the APC to accept it failed while it governed Osun state and it should be brave enough to commend the present government for succeeding where it recorded mass failure,” he said.
However, the PDP Chairman in the state, Sunday Bisi said the administration is willing to receive the anti-graft agencies should the APC properly invite them to come and probe our books.
Another strong allegation of impropriety that Adeleke has been trying to wave away is that the governor, in connivance with his family members, has been defrauding Osun.
The APC claimed Adeleke awarded multi-billion naira infrastructural projects to his elder brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke, music star, David Adeleke popularly known as Davido; Deputy Speaker, Akinyode Abidemi Oyewusi among others.
The opposition party in the state scolded the governor for continuously running the affairs of the state as private enterprise of Adeleke’s dynasty, decrying the alleged gross violation of the 2015 Public Procurement Law of the state in the award of the contracts worth about N50bn to entities with no professional and technical competence.
To stem this, the party called on the anti-graft agencies, particularly EFCC and ICPC to probe the Adeleke-led administration and prosecute culprits.
Its chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, accused Adeleke of flagrant disobedience of extant laws and gross violation of the 2015 Public Procurement Law of the state in the award of the contracts to entities with no background in road construction.
Denying the allegations, PDP described APC as a lying machine.
The latest of the allegations of corruption against Adeleke came from the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights.
CDHR accused Adeleke of bastardising the state public service over the alleged extension of the service year of the Head of Service and the Accountant-General of the state against the public service rule and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Osun State Chairman of CDHR, Emmanuel Olowu, while addressing journalists, expressed deep concern against Adeleke over his alleged continuous disregard of the public service rule by retaining the Head of Service, Mr Samuel Ayanleye Aina and the Accountant General of the State, Mr. Rasheed Olalere Alabi, after reaching their individual’s retirement age.
The group further accused the State House of Assembly of conniving with the governor to destroy accountability in the public service. It’s a bid to loot the state treasury.
CDHR, however, asked Governor Adeleke to apologize to the entire civil service for allegedly acting in aberration against the Public Service Rules 2011 of the State and immediately withdraw the three-year extension of service years given to the Head of Service.
Reacting, the spokesperson to the Governor, Olawale Rasheed, explained that the governor has extended the tenure of offices of both the Head of Service and the State’s Accountant General for strategic public interest which he argued is within Adeleke’s constitutional powers.
Olawale emphasised that the governor has not extended the tenure of any permanent secretary.
“Governor Adeleke was not the first Governor in Osun State to extend the tenure of serving appointees. In the last 13 years, Governors extended tenures of permanent secretaries, Head of Services, Accountant Generals among others. The precedent exists already.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party in the state has claimed that Governor Adeleke had committed breaches that should warrant the Osun State House of Assembly to commence impeachment process against him.
He said he was aware that some civil society organisations had written anti-graft bodies to probe Adeleke’s administration.
Reacting to allegations leveled against the governor, the chairman of LP in Osun, Bello Adebayo, said, “Personally, I don’t support any lawlessness. We cannot run the government as family affairs. Firstly, without following due process (on award of contracts). This is a critical allegation that we must look into because without the governor following due process, we don’t know the specific tax payers’ money that has gone into the contacts and the people demand to know. Even, it is an impeachable offence that we can write to the State Assembly to look into.”
“This is a critical allegation that we must look into because without the governor following due process, we don’t know the specific tax payers’ money that has gone into the contacts and the people demand to know. Even, it is an impeachable offence that we can write to the State Assembly to look into”
DSS invites Adeleke’s spokesman over alleged fake news against Oyetola
There was another disturbance in Osun State at the weekend after the spokesperson of Governor Ademola Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, was invited for a probe by the Department of State Service.
He was invited for allegedly sponsoring fake news against Femi, son of Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.
It was gathered that an Abuja-based blogger published a news report, claiming that Femi is extorting Directors of the Ministry of Marine.
Consequently, the blogger was arrested by operatives of DSS and she reportedly confessed that Rasheed sponsored the report.
However, Rasheed, in a statement, denied giving any report to an online publisher on Oyetola’s son.
The Governor’s spokesman has filed an originating summon for the enforcement of his rights before a Federal High Court, Osogbo, against DSS and Femi Oyetola.
In an originating summon, dated March 22, 2024, Rasheed is seeking the leave of the court to enforce his fundamental human rights under Sections 35, 39, 40, 41and 46 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The suit, registered as FHC/OS/CS/89/2024 has as defendants the State Security Service, Director General of the State Security Service, Osun State Director of the State Security and Femi Oyetola even as Rasheed alleged that the fourth defendant in connivance with some APC politicians in Osun were instigating the 1st-3rd defendants to effect his arrest maliciously.
The spokesperson asked the court to grant his reliefs so as not allow the defendants to collaborate at trampling upon his rights or get at him unjustifiably.
