Alleged phony contracts: Osun APC, PDP trade words

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State has berated the state governor, Ademola Adeleke for allegedly awarding multibillion naira infrastructural projects to his elder brother, Dr. Deji Adeleke, his son, David Adeleke, popularly known as ‘Davido; Deputy Speaker, Akinyode Abidemi Oyewusi, among others.

This is as the opposition party in the state scolded the governor for continuously running the affairs of the state as a private enterprise of Adeleke’s dynasty.

The party raised the allegations at a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal in Osogbo on Tuesday.

While calling on the anti-graft agencies to come to the aid of the state, 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 worth N50 billion to entities with no background in road construction.

According to him, “the financial injection through the supposed infrastructure is being circumvented and cornered by the Adeleke family using business names of Dr. Deji Adeleke and a lawmaker from Ife North State constituency of Osun State, Hon. Akinyode Abidemi Oyewumi.

“Tongues are currently wagging in Osun State that the billionaire brother of Governor Adeleke, Dr Deji Adeleke and his son, Mr David Adeleke, a.k.a. ‘Davido’ are interested parties in the touted multi-billion naira road and flyover projects using inactive and inexperienced companies to front for them.

“It is bizarre that two companies founded by the incumbent Deputy Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Akinyode Abidemi Oyewusi were recently awarded road construction contracts by the Government of Osun State.

“The Osun State Deputy Speaker is the founder of Raregeode Company Limited and Acumen Forte Limited, two companies awarded road projects by Governor Adeleke to the tune of N9 billion and was a shareholder in the two companies as at the time the contracts were awarded; while members of his family were also Person(s) with Significant Interest in the two companies, which is contrary to the public procurement law of Osun State.

“By virtue of the PPA Law of 2015, it amounts to unholy conflict of interest that a leader of the state House of Assembly will, through the back door, use two companies founded by him and where he is still a shareholder and members of his family are still holding principal directing positions, to bid for public contracts.

“For the fact that this seemingly unpatriotic action of Mr Oyewusi grossly violates provisions of the state’s procurement law, he should resign his membership of the state House of Assembly outright and hand himself over to the anti-graft agency for prosecution.

“Again, it is strange that the Ademola Adeleke Government awarded public contracts to companies with no history of road construction.

“There is no verifiable evidence that Raregeode Company Limited, Acumen Forte Limited and the three companies engaged for the road construction, namely: Ascorj Integrated Nigeria Ltd, Great Enyork Technology Limited and Enginec Engineering Limited, have the capacity and experience for such whooping contracts. The contracts were not only gifted to mushroom companies, they were gifted at insane costs. Even in the Niger Delta states where topology is unfriendly, contracts are not awarded at N2.5bn per kilometer as Governor Adeleke has done in the instance of Osun.

“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 in order to halt the reckless mismanagement of public fund which is now endemic under the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke,” Lawal asserted.

The Deputy Speaker, Akinyode Abidemi Oyewusi, while defending himself, said that the allegation was inaccurately linked to him.

He also added that he is available to oblige the necessary information on the matter.

In his words, “I have withdrawn from the company from the moment that I was elected into office last year.

“May I reiterate to the public, particularly Osun people, that neither me nor any member of my family maintains control on the company as at the time that it bided a contract with the Osun State Government.

“I resigned from Directorship in the company in line with the provisions of the law and this was duly acknowledged by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). The same thing was done by other members of my family on the board of the company.

“Beyond this, I had in the past allocated my shares and that of my family to the new management. This can be confirmed by the CAC status report.”

The Osun Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, reacting through a statement by its chairman, Sunday Bisi described the Osun APC allegations as a catalogue of lies and fake news.

In his words, “We first want to vehemently deny allegations that the state government violated the state procurement law.

“It is an unfounded allegation. We also deny a defamatory allegation by Soko Lawal that the Adeleke family is looting the state treasury through contract awards. The family is blessed and is only focused on giving back to the society.

“We affirm that the state government is not only complying with extant laws but prudently deploying available resources to develop the state infrastructure. Mr. Governor is a leader of due process, rule of law, and fear of God.”