Oyetola Admits Looting Of Government Quarters -Adeleke •Your Allegation Is Laughable, Face Governance -Oyetola
The Governor Ademola Adeleke-led administration in Osun State has said the former Governor Gboyega Oyetola-led administration has admitted to the large-scale looting of government quarters, including the Governor and Deputy Governor’s Lodges.
The state government made the declaration in a statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, in a reaction to a statement by the Commissioner for Information in the Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola-led administration, Mrs Funke Egbemode.
However, the immediate past administration in the state, in the statement earlier on Sunday by the former commisioner, described the allegation of looting of government properties, as unfair, laughable and shameful.
Egbemode said this following two video releases in which the new government in the state claimed items were missing in the Government House and quarters of some former political appointees.
She attributed what were missing to unknown men, adding that Governor Adeleke’s actions were “a futile attempt to soil the name and good governance established by the former helmsman of the state.”
Olawale however said what Egbemode stated in her statement was an admission to the fact the state Government House was looted by the immediate past administration.
“In a statement by Oyetola’s Commissioner of Information, Funke Egbemode and issued on Sunday, the admission reads as follows:
‘”It is also important to note here that the State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, was officially informed of the looting of the official residence of Deputy Governor Gboyega Alabi and other quarters within the Government House by ‘unknown men’….
‘”The NSCDC was notified of the ongoing looting of government properties in different quarters following the vacation of the premises by the then Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.”‘
He therefore went ahead to state that: “The admission from Mr Oyetola’s former commissioner vindicated the alert raised after investigation by journalists on the extensive looting.
“We want to put it on records that the Adeleke administration is not involved in lying and propaganda as a tool of governance.
“As a new administration, Governor Ademola Adeleke has a duty to report what he met on ground to the people of Osun State.
“This is especially so as the Oyetola administration refused to conduct proper handing over. Running an open government entails disclosing both assets and liabilities of the state government.
“As much as we commend the former commissioner for owning up to the looting on behalf of his former boss, she should have stopped at that and not attack the new administration that is cleaning the mess created by her former boss.
“Leaders must take responsibility. The extensive looting was effected under Oyetola’s watch and he should own up and not blame unknown hoodlums.
“As to focussing on governance, let the former cabinet members and their team be rest assured that Governor Ademola Adeleke has hit the ground running, dismantling the nest of illegalities and inhuman bobby traps of sadist of yesterday.”
The former Commissioner for Information, Mrs Egbemode had also stated in her statement: “We have seen the very laughable and shameless claims by the government of the day about the Government House being looted by the previous administration.
“The extent they have gone to peddle their falsehood is so preposterous that discerning minds are beginning to ask how a governor who completely renovated the Governor’s Lodge in June will stoop so low as to empty the First Aid box in the lodge.
“Accusing a man of Oyetola’s pedigree of taking away government house cooker and emptying bottles of methylated spirit takes away a lot from the accuser. It is beyond laughable, really.
“Perhaps, the OSBC should deploy those cameras that Governor Adegboyega Oyetola approved money for them to buy, to show the world the visuals of the Government House that Oyetola inherited and the tastefully renovated and elegantly furnished house it handed over to the Adeleke administration.
“It is also important to note here that the state Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) was officially informed of the looting of the official residence of Deputy Governor Gboyega Alabi and other quarters within the Government House by ‘unknown men’.
“In a letter, with reference number SEC 43T/352 , dated November 25, 2022, and signed by A.T Komolafe on behalf of the Coordinating Director, Governor’s Office, the NSCDC was notified of the ongoing looting of government properties in different quarters following the vacation of the premises by the then Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
“Mr Komolafe, in the letter, asked for armed security to stop the looting in the Okefia GRA Government House. So, how exactly is Mr Oyetola guilty of this looting by ‘unknown men’ after he had vacated [the] Government House?
“The apparent confusion of this new government keeps deepening with every new step it takes. If it has set up a review committee for stock-taking as claimed, why is it launching a media trial to force its pre-conceived conclusions down the public’s throat?
“The good people of Osun expect that by now, the government would be busy focusing on how to do right by the people instead of this shadow boxing.
“Governing a state like Osun is serious business and every minute counts. Dissipating energy and precious manpower on looking for pots and pans is totally comic. And what Osun needs now is not comic relief.
“No driver gets to his destination by focusing on the rear view mirror. We implore the new government to focus on the job it promised to do by using its windscreen and not the rear-view mirror.
“And before it embarks on further sanitary inspector (Wolewole) missions, it is our humble advice that these inspectors ask basic questions.
“It is unfair and ungodly to tarnish the image of a hardworking man who served with all his heart till the last minute of his tenure, just to score political points.
“The new government should concentrate on how it will pay salaries unfailingly every month remit at least N750million pension monthly like Oyetola, while still fixing infrastructural deficits.
“A tenure is only four years, not eternity. That is why we implore the government of the moment to quit manipulating the people and fanning unnecessary incitement against the immediate past administration. If it claims it knows the job, it should do the job.”
