Politics

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

Published

1 year ago

December 22, 2022

Editor

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

Poll: APC Has No Sellable Candidate, Nothing To Campaign On – Edo Govt

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Government claimed on Monday that the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no credible candidate for the September 21 governorship election.

This was an assertion made by the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, at a press conference in Benin City.

Nehikhare also alleged that the party is using lies and propaganda as its campaign strategy.

According to him: “The only APC strategy for the governorship election is to resort to lies and propaganda. When a party takes lies and propaganda as an election strategy, it means it has nothing to offer the people. The party lacks people with character, capacity, and intellect.”

The commissioner who took journalists through a screened shot WhatsApp chat said: “What we have here is the official APC WhatsApp platform, their own people screenshot their discussion. One of them who has a conscience asks, is this the only thing we have?”

Nehikhare, who said APC is ashamed to campaign for its candidate, noted that, as of today, nobody had heard of what the party has for the state.

“All we heard is how they are going to help their paymaster, lies and propaganda that will not help the state,” he added.

He opined that lies and propaganda are not strategies the opposition party, like APC, can use to win the September 21 governorship election.

The commissioner, who warned against misinformation and fake news ahead of the governorship election, urged media practitioners to be neutral in matters concerning lies and propaganda.

He, however, noted that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration has a lot of achievements to market and sell its candidate for the election.

Politics

Defection: Edo Govt, Ex-PDP BoT Member, Idahosa In Verbal War

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

Edo State government and a former member of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, Charles Idahosa, on Monday traded words over the latter defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Recall that Idahosa resigned
formally resigned who had last month resigned from PDP, rejoined the APC on Monday in Benin City.

Speaking during his formal presentation to the APC in Benin City, he noted that he left the party four years ago due to internal crisis.

Idahosa added that he dumped the PDP because of what he described as the “damning deeds of the Obaseki-led administration in the last four years”.

He took a swipe at Obaseki for saying that PDP would win the forthcoming September governorship election with 80 per cent of votes.

“I thank God, four years later we all are wiser now. Like the Secretary said, I was a founding member of ACD, ACN and APC. The damage we did four years ago, the APC never remained the same.

“But I am glad we are back to the family. I was nominated to the Board of the Railway when I was in the APC. When I moved to the PDP, I wrote to resign my membership but it was rejected and showed my wide acceptance.

“At 71, I am not here to contest position with anybody, I am here to work. I want to urge APC to keep their eyes on the ball. It is not over until it is over.”

While lambasting Governor Obaseki for his comment that those leaving PDP have been given money, he noted that his greatest regret was not allowing the governor to resign after his first four years in office.

“When he came to beg me like a weather beaten chicken, how much did he give to me? Anytime he goes religious gathering he would say those leaving PDP have been given money.

“He came to me three times in my house to say he wants to resign, that he was tired of being governor but I appealed to him, telling him it was not about him but Benin interest.”

But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare alleged that Idahosa was never a PDP member.

Nehikhare noted that Idahosa was also never a BOT member of the party, because the party in the state rejected his nomination.

He alleged that it was as a result of the rejection that he found his way back to APC.

“I heard that he claimed to be a member of BOT of PDP but I want to challenge him to tell us when he was sworn in as a member of PDP BOT. He was not a fit and proper person. Even though he was nominated he was shunned by the party.

“It was this that drove him back to APC which he never left in the first place. He was holding on to the board appointment which was offered him while in APC prior to 2020 governorship election.

“He has reached the end of his political career. He has nothing to offer any political party or any group he joins because he believes in bread and butter politics,” Nehikhare said.

Politics

Edo Guber: Ex-PDP BoT Member Joins APC, Says ‘I Regret Supporting Obaseki

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

A former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Charles Idahosa on Monday defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he regretted supporting Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki four-year ago.

Idahosa said his greatest regret is stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki from resigning in 2020 after he was frustrated out of the APC in his bid to seek reelection on the party’s platform.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after his declaration for the APC at his residence in Benin City, with leaders of the APC in attendance, Idahosa said his return to the APC is homecoming.

The former Information Commissioner in Edo State said in 2020, the governor had cried to him over the ill -treatment meted on him by his predecessor and National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole and was considering resigning.

Idahosa noted that Obaseki was at the verge of giving up to allow the APC to pick another governorship candidate, but he (Idahosa) encouraged him to keep hope alive and he personally fought the battle for the governor to win his reelection .

Idahosa, however, lamented that Obaseki utterances during the inauguration of the PDP Campaign Council for the 2024 election was heartless and uncomplimentary when he accused the defectors from PDP as having received huge sums of money before their defection.

The former BoT member of the PDP, while urging the Edo APC leadership to work in synergy ahead of the governorship election, said that the greatest misfortune to befall the APC is for Godwin Obaseki to install a successor.

Idahosa who pledged his support for the governorship candidate of the APC, Senator Monday Okphebholo, said street survival instinct not doctoral degrees (PhD) or big grammar is needed as a criteria for the next governor that will succeed Obaseki.

He urged Edo people and the APC to put the damning deeds of the Obaseki-led government of 4 years ago in the past and unite to stop the governor and the PDP governorship candidate from taking over the governance of the state in the September 21st governorship election.

He said, “Four years later, we are all wiser. I am back to the APC, which is my family. It is homecoming for me and I am very comfortable. At 71 , I am not going to be a threat to anybody. I am joing the APC to work. Nobody should be afraid or scared that Charles Idahosa is joining the APC because I won’t be contesting any position. “

Earlier, the APC state secretary, Lawrence Okah, while receiving Idahosa into the party, said the former member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charles Idahosa is a man of honour and a foundation member of the APC.