Politics

Osun: APC, PDP In War Of Words Over SURE-P Funds, Rice Distribution

Published

3 years ago

December 22, 2022

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has asked the State House of Assembly to inquire why the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, decided to withhold the November 2022 salaries of all the political appointees of the immediate past Governor, Gboyega Oyetola.

The affected former public officers, according to the party, are the Governor, Deputy Governor, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff, Assistant Chief of Staff, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, Personal Assistants, drivers and others.

Also, the Osun APC Chairman revealed that the Ademola Adeleke administration had spent N941,850,000 to buy rice for the members and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

The Osun APC alleged that the money for the rice was part of the local government SURE-P fund meant to provide social infrastructure across the council areas in the state.

In a statement by the Osun APC Chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, and made available by Kola Bisi, the Director of the party, the party revealed that Adeleke has both refused to pay the November salaries of all the legally-appointed political appointees of Oyetola even though the latter had appropriated the fund for same before he left the office.

Lawal also disclosed that the party had stumbled on a letter where Adeleke, through the State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, directed the diversion of the money meant for the generality of the people of the state towards the purchase of the commodity.

According to the statement obtained on Wednesday, “It was observed that Governor Adeleke deliberately and grudgingly refused to pay the November salaries of all the public officers who validly worked for Oyetola till the end of his tenure last month.

“There could be no justifiable reason under the sun why Governor Adeleke should be owing the salaries of the public workers who were validly employed by his predecessor”.

“Adeleke to shed his toga of politics of hatred, vindictiveness, oppression, victimisation as there is no any justifiable reason for him to withhold the workers’ salaries other than wickedness, insensitivity, lack of empathy and reconsideration.”

He queried the basis for the seizure of the public workers’ salaries when there were records that they were validly employed and worked diligently till November 27, 2022, when there was a change of government.

He said, “I can’t understand how we came to this level. Why is Governor Adeleke punishing a cross-section of Osun State workers whose salaries he is sitting on?

“Thank God that we are operating in a democratic society where there are expected statutory checks and balances by all arms of any government.

“It is on this basis that it is expedient for the Osun State House of Assembly to wade into the issue and ask questions why Governor Adeleke is working a bleak Christmas for some people in the state through non-payment of salaries.”

While wondering on whose authority the state governor approved the withdrawal of the funds from the local government allowance without any recourse to the state House of Assembly, Lawal concluded that “It is obvious that the Osun State people have boarded a metaphorical one-chance vehicle with Governor Adeleke in the driver’s seat of governance in the state.

Reacting, the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through its caretaker chairman, Adekunle Akindele, stated that despite clear clarifications that the funding for the purchase did not emanate from the SURE-P fund, which is still intact, the Osun APC is obsessed with fake news simply because Governor Adeleke stopped the former government from looting the fund.

Akindele stated that the governor has continued to receive accolades from the public for his handling of the rice distribution project.

He thanked Governor Adeleke for breaking new grounds and for setting Osun on the path of sustainable development and good governance.

The problem started when the Osun State Governor, in a press statement on Wednesday, approved a committee on the distribution of rice.

The state governor, through a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, also stated that the SURE-P fund is intact in the account of the local governments.

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

3 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as FRYO, has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

The primary election took place in Osogbo on Tuesday amid heavy security presence.

Announcing the result, chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, stated that Adebayo secured 919 votes out of 957 accredited ballots, giving him a clear victory in the contest.

Explaining that there were 20 void votes following the withdrawal of one of the candidates, believed to be Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abba added, “The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and he stands elected and returned.”

DAILY POST reports that despite announcing his resignation from the party, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

Party officials said the exercise was conducted in accordance with established guidelines, with accredited delegates participating in the voting process.

Adeleke announced his resignation in a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP leadership at his ward.

On Monday, Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, had announced that the governorship primary slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, has been postponed due to leadership crisis at the national level.

But a faction of the party went ahead with the exercise in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Politics

Gov Adeleke Resigns From PDP

Published

13 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial primaries of the party.

Adeleke’s resignation letter, dated November 4, 2025, sighted by Tribune Online was addressed to the PDP ward chairman for Ward 2, Sagba Abogunde, Ede, Osun State.

According to the letter, the governor’s resignation was based on “the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

According to the letter, titled: “Resignation of my membership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’ read, “Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my Membership of the People’s Democratic Party with immediate effect.

“I thank the People’s Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State under the People’s Democratic Party.”

Politics

Tinubu Sends Ex-INEC Chair, Former Oyo First Lady, 30 Additional Ambassadorial Nominees To Senate

Published

3 days ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has forwarded 32 additional ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, just days after submitting an initial batch of three names.

In two separate letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the President urged the upper chamber to consider and swiftly confirm 15 career diplomats and 17 non-career nominees.

The list includes four women among the career nominees and six women among the non-career nominees.

Prominent names on the non-career list include Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia State; former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta); former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Others are former Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau State Commissioner, Yakubu N. Gambo; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC, Yakubu K. Musa.

Also nominated are former Plateau senator, Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos Deputy Governor, Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra State.

Additional nominees include former Oyo First Lady, Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator, Grace Bent; former Abia governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim of Ondo State; and former envoy to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).

The career ambassadorial nominees are Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).

Others include Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).

The new nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains strong and strategic diplomatic relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.

Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.

Recall that President Tinubu, last week, forwarded three ambassadorial nominees, Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun), who are being considered for postings to the UK, USA, or France.

President Tinubu said additional ambassadorial nominations will be announced in due course.