TUNDE ADELEKE, Osogbo
Fresh political controversy has erupted in Osun State as the state government and a former commissioner on Local Government and chieftaincy affairs, Prince Adebayo Adeleke engaged in a war of words over allegations of money laundering.
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, while briefing newsmen in Osogbo, accused the previous administration under the leadership of the former Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, of breaching the state Public Procurement Act 2007 and laundering state funds.
He also alleged that the former administration of siphoning the state’s treasure through the state chapter of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, alleging that the then ALGON engaged the services of one Akeem Ibitoye.
According to him, “in flagrant violations of the above clear provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, Oyetola did not call for bidding as mandatorily required under the PPA, let alone allowing competition which would have afforded the state the best-qualified contractors to handle the projects.
“Rather, the former governor in observing the provisions of the Act in breach, awarded the contracts to individuals who were either his cabinet members, head of one agency of government or the other, his proxies and cronies who claimed to have incorporated business names/inactive companies.”
Reacting to the allegations on Monday, the former commissioner on Local Government and chieftaincy affairs, Prince Adebayo Adeleke, dismissed allegations of financial misconduct leveled against him and the previous administration of Gboyega Oyetola, describing them as politically motivated and lacking merit.
According to him, “There were a series of allegations against the former governor Adegboyega Oyetola by the current administration led by Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“Barrister Kolapo Alimi is known and he has proved that is the biggest enemy of Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, he has insulted him severally in different foral and you all know that my humble self Bayo Adeleke has been a known antagonized to Governor Adeleke system style of administration, they have done a lot that is against rule of law, nothing like accountability, they don’t seem to responsible to the people that elected and each time we complain we get threat.
“In the document they alleged that a company owned by Prince Abdul-Yekeeni Adebayo Adeleke ICE FIRM NIG. LIMITED got some contract, luckily they didn’t say we don’t do the work. They say as a commissioner then Bayo Adeleke is not supposed to have gotten those contracts.
“On page 21 of the report, it is alleged that I signed a letter of acceptance on behalf of ICE FIRM NIG. LIMITED on September 3, 2019. At that time, I was still the CEO and MD of the company. My appointment as commissioner did not come until October 24, 2019. Perhaps they do not understand the difference between the two dates,” he clarified.
Meanwhile, the ALGON chairman under the Oyetola-led administration, Abiodun Idowu, while reacting to allegations of siphoning state money through one Akeem Ibitoye, said “since inception, ALGON in Osun has had 6 chairmen before me, the tradition in ALGON which I met was the execution of joint project by cash. But we tried to modify a little bit and the modification is engaging a Financial expert to manage the project fund. Hence, we engaged Mr Akeem ibitoye.
“When we came on board, there was no record, no voucher no written record of transactions for any executed project, I only met the account of ALGON. So for me to make a difference I was thinking of having somebody who could manage our account, so I went to ALGON general meeting so the matter can be debated on. As at then we didn’t have any savings, no permanent staff, only few staff. Since we are going to be dealing with cash, we need to have records.
“And since we don’t have money to hire staff on a permanent basis, we have three recommendations out of which we engaged Akeem Ibitoye, because he’s a financial expert and a Director of Finance in Ife East local government as at that time.
“For your information, our major projects also went through the Local Government due process office and we had letters of clearance from the office. Besides, all our transaction records were submitted to the Auditor-General for local government, hence, the officials reported to the office concerning local government activities while we were in office.
“About Akeem running away, I don’t think that is correct, I am aware, that he retired from office after completing his years of service. He sent in notice of retirement in August 2023 and the probe committee has started it job then when he retired and later the same year moved to join his family abroad. If he is found wanting, what was the committee doing while he was processing his retirement? This is pure witch-hunting.”
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