Osun

  The Osun chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Sunday debunked the allegations of misappropriation of a $20m World Bank health grant levelled against the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola in a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by Governor Ademola Adeleke. Adeleke also accused the past governor of money laundering, financial misconduct and violations of the Public Procurement Act in the disbursement of the grant meant for health sector improvements in the state. In the acknowledged copy of the petition dated March 7 obtained by our correspondent last Friday, Oyetola reportedly set up a committee during his tenure as governor that expended $20m on renovating 320 primary health care centres across the state. But Osun government’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi claimed the programme tagged ‘Save One Million Lives, was a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, adding that 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. Olajengbesi noted in the petition that the beneficiaries of the contract allegedly included businesses with no construction experience, such as food vendors, salon operators, supermarket owners, and web designers. Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, Osun APC Media Director, Kola Olabisi, described the petition as a ruse by the governor, who he claimed has been seeking avenues to get even with the APC leaders in the state over his failure to retain his grip on the state local governments. Olabisi also slammed Adeleke and his legal team for trying ‘so hard’ to rubbish the image of his predecessor in the media. He said, “When the attempt to force their ways to the local government council offices failed, they are now resorting to another crude tactics of attempting to tarnish the image of the former governor of the state, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, a man of candour and probity who served the state honourably. “In the recent propaganda escalated to the country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, chronicling falsehood to soil the name of Oyetola and those who worked in his government, the Adeleke government said the $20m Save-One-Million Lives Programme was stolen and was not used for the purpose it was meant for.” According to the APC chieftain, the fund received by Oyetola’s government was comprehensively monitored by the donor. Midway through his speech, the APC media director brought some documents detailing what he said was where the funds were expended. He stated, “We will share with you details of how the Oyetola government enhanced and scaled up health in Osun through the grant. We invite the media and the public to peruse the document, containing pictures of facilities and programmes executed to verify our claims. “Not only was the fund used to improve health in the state, but the contract awards followed the relevant procurement laws of the state. We make bold to state that no commissioner, adviser or appointee of ex-Governor Oyetola was awarded contracts while serving in government. “We challenge the state government, which is now on a witch-hunting mission, to publish names of contractors and date of contract awards to substantiate their evil narrative. Unlike Oyetola who uploaded 110 contract and procurement details on the government portal in three years, the current government has only published seven contract details in two years, raising eyebrows about his commitment to accountability and transparency.” Punch