From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that there is no development that warranted the award of Governor of The Year (Infrastructure) bestowed on Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State by the Vanguard newspaper.
The state chapter of the party, in a statement made available to the media by the chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, through the director of media and information, Kola Olabisi, on Sunday, thereby called for the withdrawal of the award from Adeleke.
APC stated that in a saner clime, Governor Adeleke should have been singled out for an award of “Fantastic Failure of the Year” given his steeply malodorous performance in office since inauguration.
The party insisted that there is nothing on ground in the state that qualifies the governor for the conferment of such award on him, saying that “it puts to question the value of the said award as it’s largely unmerited by the awardee whose gross incompetence in government within the past 17 months of his occupation of the Bola Ige House, Abere, has returned the state to the stone age where life was antiquated, nasty and brutish.
“I am still finding it difficult to believe that a governor who could not properly account for the accrued N200 billion Federal Government’s allocations to the state since November 2022 could be found worthy of being awarded with the good governance award.
“Is it not strange that Governor Adeleke, who has been warehousing the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy removal palliatives in cash and food items meant for the people of the state, should be deemed fit for such a controversial award?
“Would it be right to honour a governor whose only achievement in the local government areas is award of 1.5km road construction, even despite hijacking over N111bn federal allocation due to the third tier of government in 17 months?
“Whose decision was it to consider for an award a governor who, for pecuniary gains and desperation to corner money for 2026 re-election bid, contracted multi-billion road projects to fertilizers suppliers, cyber cafe operators and other incompetent cronies and political lapdogs?
“Who thought it right to give an award of excellence in the office to an entity who only repainted the Government House and the Presidential Lodge therein without making known to the public the amount of money the said contracts gulped?
“Would it be right to honour a governor who has been rubbishing the Obaship institution in the state by needlessly sacking some of them without recourse to the rule of law and made a futile attempt to drag the state judiciary in the mud by going for the jugular of the State Chief Judge who was eventually saved by the Nigerian Judicial Council(NJC)?
“Based on the foregoing and other verifiable reasons, I am making bold to say that the Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke does not merit any award as there is nothing on ground to show that he is ready for governance; the award should be withdrawn without further delay,” APC said.