Politics
In Osun State, APC & PDP disagree over call for Adeleke’s probe
The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to probe the administration of the state governor, Ademola Adeleke.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo, Osun APC chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, said the state was already ungovernable for Adeleke due to maladministration which has made many residents to be displeased with him.
Lawal expressed readiness to assist anti-graft agencies in probing the Adeleke administration.
He also accused the governor of flagrant disobedience of extant laws and gross violation of the 2015 Public Procurement Law of the state in the award of the contracts to entities with no background in road construction, asking the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Akinyode Oyewusi, whose company was said to have been awarded the road construction contract to resign his membership of the parliament and turn himself into the security agents.
He further said, “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 the person(s) with significant Interest in the two companies, which is contrary to the public procurement law of Osun State.
“By the PPA Law of 2015, it amounts to an 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 the topology is unfriendly, contracts are not awarded at N2.5bn per kilometre 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 to halt the reckless mismanagement of public funds which is now endemic under the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke.”
But while responding to the allegations, Osun PDP chairman, Mr Sunday Bisi, said the state government had nothing to hide, and urged the opposition party to bring its anti-graft agencies to probe Adeleke.
Bisi, who spoke at the party” ‘s state secretariat in Osogbo, called on Adeleke to launch a probe into the finances of the state under the immediate past administration of Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, saying the PDP government inherited a state struggling with over N500 billion debt without tangible projects to justify such debt.
He said, “We first want to vehemently deny allegations that the state government violated the state procurement law. It is an unfounded allegation. We also denied 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.
“Before we answer Osun APC, the lying machine, point by point, we want to remind the public that Osun APC left the state in comatose, with massive debt without anything to show for it.
“We met a legacy of unpaid pensions and half salaries as well as a deep infrastructure deficit. As I said in my statement on Monday, we did not probe the multi-billion naira fraud and looting by the former governor because we are interested in rescuing our dear state.
“We are constrained to call on Governor Ademola Adeleke to launch a full probe of the Oyetola government. It is time to expose to the public the legacy of fraudulent administration left behind by former Governor Oyetola. It is public knowledge that the Adeleke family are enterprising, with several known businesses in Nigeria and abroad. The Osun APC should stop seeing the Adeleke family in the image of the former governor whose members of the family have no known source of engagement outside government, cornering almost everything to themselves including printing jobs at the secretariat while it was at the helm.
“That the Osun APC failed to quote the relevant section of the PPA 2015 easily gives away the lies in its claim. The award of the contracts followed the lettered provisions of the PPA 2015, which we believe the Osun APC is ignorant of or just chooses to be mischievous by setting out a wrong narrative in the public. There is no violation of the procurement law of Osun state or any other laws.
“It is on record that at the time when Raregeode Company Limited and Acumen Forte Limited won the bid and were awarded contracts for the various projects, the Deputy Speaker, Akinyode Oyewusi has ceased to have any role in the two companies.
“The public is advised to note the March 20, 2023, resignation letter of Oyewusi, relinquishing control over the two companies in line with the provisions of the law. As long as he has resigned his interest in the company, there is no encumbrance or illegality on the side of the Deputy Speaker.”
Politics
PDP to screen Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday as its sole Presidential aspirant For 2027 race
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has scheduled to screen former president Goodluck Jonathan tomorrow, Tuesday, aMay 19, as the lone presidential candidate of party.
According to a statement from the PDP faction backed by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, Former Vice-President Namadi Sambo, former governor of Plateau State, Jona Jang and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tom Ikimi have been listed among a committee of 14 members to screen Jonathan described as a lone candidate by the party.
Other members of the committee were Chief Olabode George, Babangida Aliyu, Maryam ciroma, Zainab Maina, Josephine Anenin, Dr. Abdul Bulama, Dr. Esther Uduehi, Edo State PDP chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, Dr. Sunday Solarium and Chief Anicho Okoro, who would serve as administrative secretary of the committee.
Last week, the national Publicity Secretary of the faction, Ini Ememobong, disclosed that former president Jonathan has successfully registered as a member of the party in the fresh digital registration exercise directed by INEC.
The PDP faction also announced that it was set to screen 748 house of representatives aspirants, 198 senatorial aspirants, and 112 governorship aspirants.
The screening committee would screen 2122 states houses of assembly aspirants. The exercise will commence tomorrow, Tuesday in different states.
According to the statement, the screening exercise would take place nationwide on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
The statement said the Interim National Working Committee (iNWC) has also released the names of members to serve on the Screening Committees and Screening Appeal Panels.
It added that the publication of the screening details “is in accordance with the party’s guidelines and timetable for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.”
Politics
Oshiomhole wins Edo APC senatorial primaries unopposed
A former governor and incumbent Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, along with his counterpart Senator Joe Ikpea, sailed through the All Progressives Congress senatorial primary in Edo unopposed, and securing their tickets without a single vote cast against them.
Also Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama emerged the winner in the APC primary for the Edo South senatorial district.
Ogbeide-Ihama won in the seven local government areas of Edo South in the results announced by the Chairman of APC National Assembly Primary Election, Muhammed Ajana at the Urokpota Hall, Benin.
He polled 27,154 votes while his opponents, Senator Neda Imasuen, got 13,580, and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu got 6785.
The elections were hitch-free in Edo North and Edo Central, where there was no contest against the incumbents, Senators Oshiomhole of Edo North and Ikpea of Edo Central, respectively.
Ajana at the Urokpota Hall said the collation arose from votes cast in the seven local government areas made up of 77 wards where elections were conducted by members of the committee.
He said, “There are seven local governments that make up the Edo South Senatorial District. We have heard from the Returning officers from the seven local government areas. From the collation, the cumulative result we have for Edo South Senatorial District is this; Ogbeide-Ihama with 27,154 votes, Imasuen with 13,580 votes and Ize-Iyamu with 6, 785.
“This is the total reflection of what has transpired from the ward level to the local government and the Edo South senatorial district collation centre. With this we await further directives from the National Secretariat, we have done our best by collating the results which is our mandate, to collate the results and send them to the National Secretariat.”
However, it was gathered that Ize-Iyamu emerged as the APC candidate for Edo South Senatorial race. He claimed to have clinched the party’s ticket after defeating Ogbeide-Ihama and Imasuen.
It was claimed that the Chief Returning Officer, Abubakar Muhammad Kabiru, officially declared Ize-Iyamu the winner after securing the highest number of votes cast.
On his part, the senator representing the district condemned the exercise describing it as a sham allegedly designed to favour a preferred aspirant.
Imasuen spoke while reacting to events at his polling unit in Umagbae North Ward 5, Urhokuosa where he said he was denied the opportunity to vote following what he described as a chaotic and manipulated process.
The lawmaker accused leaders of the party of openly adopting a preferred candidate ahead of the exercise and intimidating members into supporting that aspirant.
He said, “There is nothing satisfactory about this sham of election they did today and it is very unfortunate because as a loyal party member, I expected something better than this.”
He said the warning signs emerged days before the primary when some ward chairmen allegedly informed him that they had been directed not to receive him during consultations.
Imasuen claimed that some ward leaders openly told him the party had already adopted a preferred aspirant, identified as Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, making further consultations unnecessary.
Politics
Ajuloopin Suffers Setback as Home Ward Rejects Third Term Return Bid in Kwara APC Primary
The re-election bid of the member representing Ekiti/Isin/Irepodun/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency, Hon. Raheem Tunji Olawuyi, popularly known as Ajuloopin, suffered a major setback on Friday after party members in his home ward, Omu-Aran Ward 1, boycotted the All Progressives Congress APC House of Representatives primary.
According to party stakeholders and observers present at the exercise, no valid election took place in the ward after members refused to participate in protest against what they described as the lawmaker’s poor performance after three consecutive terms in the House of Representatives.
Sources in the ward said efforts by some political figures and loyalists to persuade members to back Ajuloopin’s ambition failed, with party faithful insisting they would not endorse what they termed an attempt to impose his candidacy again.
The boycott led to a breakdown of the electoral process in Omu-Aran Ward 1, with many members staying away from the polls entirely. Stakeholders have called on the APC Electoral Committee to disregard any result purportedly presented from the ward, arguing that no credible primary was conducted there.
Political observers in the constituency described the development as a significant blow to Ajuloopin, noting that the rejection came from his own ward and among constituents most familiar with his record.
Preliminary reports from other parts of Irepodun, Isin and Oke-Ero local government areas, where voting proceeded, also indicated weak support for the incumbent. Many party members were said to have voted for alternative aspirants.
APC stakeholders have urged the party leadership to review reports from affected wards and accept only authentic and verifiable results to preserve the credibility of the primaries. They stressed that internal democracy was critical to the party’s prospects in the constituency and warned against imposing unpopular candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
With tension rising across the federal constituency, party faithful said the leadership must listen to grassroots members and allow delegates and supporters to determine the outcome of the primaries.
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