… say he pumped party funds into his bank in Ghana
- I had no contact with 2015 money, Omisore replies
- ‘I’ve been funding PDP, single-handedly, since 2003’
Allegations and counter-allegations have emerged from last week’s violence that rocked the Osun State secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osogbo, where political thugs, suspected to be loyalists of a governorship contender, Senator Iyiola Omisore, burned down party flags and wrought other damages.
The Point’s investigations revealed that beyond the battle of wits among the PDP governorship contestants in the state, a long-standing hostility, arising from an alleged disappearance of N17 billion election funds, released to Osun State between 2014 and 2015, had put Omisore, a former deputy governor in the state, in the black book of some party members.
The N17 billion was released in two tranches: N7 billion for the 2014 Osun governorship election, and N10 billion for the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections…Despite his isolation of the party at the time of collection and appropriation of the funds, as a responsible party, we stood by him during the travails
One of the frontline PDP leaders in the state, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the issue, alleged that the money was channeled to the party in Osun through Omisore by the office of the National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, for onward distribution to party stalwarts in the state.
“The sums were released in part, in 2014, for Omisore’s governorship contest against Governor Rauf Aregbesola, and then completed a year later, for the re-election of President Jonathan,” he claimed.
The allegation against me on the 2015 elections fund released to Osun State is baseless. I am saying this because I didn’t have contact with 2015 money. Moreover, I have been funding PDP, single-handedly, since 2003
“The N17 billion was released in two tranches: N7 billion for the 2014 Osun governorship election, and N10 billion for the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections,” another party leader, who also did not want his name mentioned, added.
One of the Osun PDP leaders, Barrister Tajudeen Adeyemi, who also spoke to our correspondent, noted that Omisore allegedly “collected billions of naira from ex-President Jonathan and pocketed them.”
To Adeyemi, the failure of Omisore to share the money among party members culminated in the electoral loss PDP suffered in the 2014 governorship election in the state and the abysmal performance of Jonathan in the Osun presidential election results.
He said, “That the PDP lost the elections may no longer be news, but the secret behind the party’s undeserved loss at the poll remains the issue, as it thereafter culminated in so many regrettable developments for the party.
“As a serious party, after the elections, various committees were set up to probe into why we lost and there were many serious and disappointing revelations, which include but not limited to the fact that the senator who was our candidate, helped his pockets to a great extent with funds meant for the elections.
“He couldn’t account till today for several billions of naira meant for providing essential logistics for the 2014 elections. Attempts to ask him questions led to so many unpalatable reactions from him, which included the ejection of the party from his Ogo-Oluwa property in Osogbo, which hitherto served as the party’s state secretariat.”
He added, “Amidst this came the issue of EFCC allegations, investigations, arrest, detention, and refund of several billions of naira, which he allegedly collected for the purpose of the governorship elections.
“You will all recall that Otunba Omisore initially denied ever collecting any money for the elections only for him to admit while in the EFCC custody and begin to refund.
“Despite his isolation of the party at the time of collection and appropriation of the funds, as a responsible party, we stood by him during the travails. Our party joined him to suffer the image battery because of the brotherly love and respect we had for him.
“All these could not appease the former deputy governor, who had since turned himself into an albatross for the party and continued to promote factions and disloyalty to the party leadership, especially under the leadership of Prince Uche Secondus.”
Also, Omisore’s close aide, who is the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi, has accused his principal of ripping off the party in Osun.
He said, in a recent chat with our correspondent, that “Omisore collected huge amounts of money from Jonathan but refused to spend them on the election that the money was meant for.”
Alluding to the alleged N17 billion scam, another senior PDP leader in Osun, who would not want his name mentioned “because of my safety”, alleged that the former deputy governor took part of the money that totaled N17billion to boost the operations of his bank in Ghana.
He alleged further that the remnants of the money were taken to Istanbul in Turkey.
IT’S A WHITE LIE, SAYS OMISORE
Rising in defence of his name and image, Senator Omisore described allegations that he took N17 billion from Jonathan’s National Security Adviser in what has become known as Dasukigate, as sheer fabrication and baseless.
In his reply to a text message from our correspondent, Omisore debunked the allegation that he diverted the funds released by the party to run both the 2014 governorship election and 2015 general elections in the state, saying that, instead, the party owed him gratitude for his selfless contributions.
He said he had been single-handedly funding elections for the party in the state since 2003, and that he had “never had contact with the 2015 election fund released for the party in Osun State.”
He thus described the N17 billion fund diversion allegation as “an attempt to stain my personality.”
“The allegation against me on the 2015 elections fund released to Osun State is baseless. I am saying this because I didn’t have contact with 2015 money. Moreover, I have been funding PDP, single-handedly, since 2003,” Omisore stressed.
OMISORE HAD BEEN ‘A GUEST’ OF EFCC
However, embattled Omisore had been arrested and detained for days between June and July 2016 in connection with the $2.1 billion ‘Dasukigate’ slush money scandal.
Rationalising why Omisore was held at the period, the spokesman to EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said he was arrested as part of investigation into a case of receiving and misappropriating N700 million from the ONSA, between June and November, 2014.
Uwujaren said the commission secured a court warrant for Omisore’s arrest. But he was afterwards released in what sources in the EFCC later described as a plea bargain deal.
However, efforts, at press time, to clarify the latest allegation against Omisore with the EFCC, were unsuccessful, as Uwujaren’s mobile telephone could not be reached.
HIS OTHER PROBLEMS WITH OSUN PDP
Beyond the alleged N17 billion controversy, Omisore may have an uphill task in his governorship aspiration, especially on the platform of the PDP, further investigations have revealed.
A source in the party said the fact that he had once been a suspect over the murder of a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, despite his eventual acquittal, might make him a hard sell before an electorate that was largely given to paranoia.
“He doesn’t look good to win any election. Omisore has a lot of albatross on his neck. His name is too controversial and that will spell doom for PDP should it allow Omisore to fly its ticket. The Bola Ige thing and his case with the EFCC are not helpful. So, we advise him to drop his governorship ambition but he has been adamant,” the party source, who opted to remain anonymous, said.
Another party source also said that if the PDP was to go by the rotational principle, the people of Osun East, where Omisore hails from, had produced a governor in Aregbesola. Most of the people in the state, the source said, were now supporting Osun West to produce the next governor.
Also speaking to our correspondent, a notable member of the PDP in the state alleged that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, appeared to be backing Omisore to continue to demand for the PDP gubernatorial ticket.
“This will make the PDP to keep on facing crisis in order for Tinubu’s nephew, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who is the current Chief of Staff in Osun State and the anointed candidate of Governor Aregbesola, to coast to victory,” the source alleged.
OMISORE MAY LEAVE PDP
Meanwhile, investigations have revealed that Omisore’s team in the Osun PDP is currently weighing its options, going by the gang-up against its principal by a faction of the party.
It was learnt that the team is considering the option of defecting to the Social Democratic Party or the Accord Party, once it is unable to contain emerging hostilities in the PDP.
Already, the Osun PDP has been factionalised under two diametrically opposed chairmen. A group, which disapproves of Omisore, is headed by Hon. Soji Adagunodo, while the pro-Omisore group is led by Dr. Bayo Faforiji.
In what suggested that Omisore would soon dump the PDP for another party, Faforiji, in a statement after a controversial March 2018 state Congress that produced Adagunodo as state chairman, said, “Finally, the long and tortuous journey in the dark tunnel of the discarded PDP days is over! What a sweet relief!”
He added, “Now is the time for us to hit the ground running. As soon as our next destination is determined and established, everyone must take up the challenge of spreading the gospel of ‘Omisore for Governor’ throughout the nooks and crannies of Osun State.
“This is the time to harvest the enormous goodwill of our candidate and impress it on Osun State indigenes that our freedom from the misrule and maladministration of the APC is at hand. Our new party must eclipse all others in the shortest of time and stamp its authority on all segments of our society. This is just the beginning of a new era and the end of hopelessness.”
‘BURNING OF PDP FLAGS CONDEMNABLE’
Meanwhile, leaders and stakeholders of the PDP in the state, who are not within the camp of Omisore, have said the party will win the forthcoming election with or without the former deputy governor.
Decrying the burning of flags and other symbols of the party, the Osun PDP leaders, under the aegis of Forum of Ex-PDP Political Office Holders, however, demanded an apology from Omisore, who they alleged supervised the burning of the party flags and other emblems by some of his supporters.
The spokesperson of the forum, Barrister Tajudeen Adeyemi, while speaking with our correspondent, said the Forum was “shocked, saddened and disappointed at the development.”
“We use this medium to state that we are deeply shocked, saddened and disappointed at the most recent conduct of a former deputy governor, who is also a former senator, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who was reported to have personally supervised the burning of the PDP flag and other party symbols by some hoodlums at his office in Osogbo. A picture showing him superintend over the burning of PDP flags and banner at the former PDP Secretariat, Ogo Oluwa, went viral on all media,” Adeyemi
lamented.
