The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Osun State has insisted that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state is guilty of array of corrupt practices levelled against it by PDP’s candidate in the 2018 gubernatorial election, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
It also accused APC of “being dishonest and evasive in response to the allegation of looting levelled against the party”.
DAILY POST reports that Adeleke had, in a press statement on Friday, accused Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of spearheading “looting spree” in the state since he held sway as Chief of Staff to former governor Rauf Aregbesola, while reacting to a statement credited to the Governor, where he lampooned him (Adeleke) of lacking mental and academic capacity to stand for an election except dancing skills.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of PDP, Hon. Soji Adagunodo, on Saturday, and made available to newsmen in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, the party said APC, going by the import of its response to the corruption allegation, was being pretentious.
The statement reads, “APC is full of pretence and it is a common sense that the mandate being enjoyed by the party today is a stolen one and the worst form of corruption anywhere in the world is electoral fraud.
“We will also like to challenge the APC and Gboyega Oyetola to give the people the debt profile of Osun state as at today, in relation to various failed projects embarked upon by the APC administration under which he served as Chief of Staff with regards to the followings:
(1) Ido-Osun International Airport that has gulped up to N16 billion Naira
(2)FAILED ROAD PROJECTS
(a) The 29 kilometers Gbongan/Akoda road which was awarded at billions of Naira out of which only about six kilometers were partially completed, leaving about 23 kilometers unattended to;
(b) Osogbo/Ikirun/Ilaodo boundary roads also abandoned;
(c) Osogbo Ring Road project which was also abandoned.
(3) The O-Reap failed project that was launched with about N2 billion Naira but went into extinction. It will be recalled that PDP exposed the fraud inherent in the so-called agricultural project O-Rice when Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola fraudulently posed with a private owner of a rice plantation, claiming it was Osun state project but his lies were punctured when the owner of the farm debunked the APC lies in the media after PDP exposed the fraud.
(4) Failed Market Projects:
(a) Dagbolu Market launched with N6 billion has failed and is now better referred to as a jungle or thick forrest while all structures erected there have collapsed;
(b) Ayegbaju Market at Ogo-Oluwa was initially said to be an international market but has failed because it is now an ordinary market.
(4)OPON IMO AND O-TECH
(a) Osun people will not forget in a hurry the N8 billion Naira failed Opon-Imo Project which was awarded to Kabiru Aregbesola the first son of the former governor under APC government;
(b) O-TECH: This is another unpalatable fraudulent project which the APC government initiated with promises to import Chinese technology and experts into Ilesa to produce various types of handsets. That’s another failed project that needs explanations from APC;
(c) Igi Iye Project was launched with N2 billion Naira and was monitored by Mr. Bola Ilori,an indigene of Ondo state.
“There are several failed projects used to loot Osun state treasury by APC administration such as O-RAM, O-RAMP, O-REAP, O-UNIFORM, OLAJOKUN PARK which gulped N6 billions of Naira with designs of Hotels and resorts that never happened or existed.
D. TRAILER PARK project was also initiated but didn’t see the light of the day.
(5) CONSULTANCY SERVICE was one of the biggest drain pipes employed by APC to siphon Osun money under the guise of increasing Internally Generated Revenue.The cost of maintaining the consultants on project and others is even higher than the IGR itself.
(6) LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDS: We are not ignorant of the reckless abandon with which the local government funds were manipulated by the APC administration.”
Adagunodo further accused the Osun government of lacking legitimacy and requisite popularity without accountability.
He said: “The opaque multi billion state debts incurred under shady condition with shady disbursements and shady abandoned projects speak volumes in Osun.
“The lack of accountability on billions of Naira and Paris Club Funds are other issues and these many infractions are fully documented in the court of public opinion.
“As a political party, we will not abandon our duty to monitor the government and ensure that democratic dividends are delivered to our repressed people.
“We will not keep silent and allow the evil of the last eight years to continue.
“We will shout on rooftop for the court of public opinion and God because Nigeria is passing through an unusual time.”
In its reaction however, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy for the APC in the state, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi asked the opposition party and its candidate “to go to court and present proof of all the heinous allegations of looting that you have made against Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of the State of Osun.
“But if you don’t do so within 14 days of this challenge, then the people of Osun and all responsible people in the country will regard you as unworthy of any serious attention.”
According to Oyatomi, it is irresponsible for Adeleke and his party to have deliberately made such allegations without providing demonstrable evidence to support it.
“If Ademola were informed and politically mature, he would be sensitive to the imperative of being truthful, factual and rational when making statements of such significance and consequence. We also expect him to have the honour and the discipline to provide proof of his allegations.
“The APC will not dignify Adeleke with response to any of the silly allegations contained in his statement. We simply ask for the proof, which he is under obligation to provide. Otherwise we will be justified to equate him with a loafer and jester,” Oyatomi asserted.
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