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Femi Makinde
A large crowd of people gathered on the premises of the Ilesa Palace on Saturday as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, launched his governorship campaign there.
Supporters of the former deputy governor of the state defied rains that fell for most part of the day as they danced round the town before they moved to the palace ground, where the SDP candidate and other leaders of the party addressed them.
Omisore had earlier paid a courtesy visit to the Owa of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, to seek his support and prayer for his governorship ambition.
He told the monarch that the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola had failed the people of the state and that the governor did not do anything even in Ilesa, which is his hometown.
Omisore said, “I thought he would have done well here in Ilesa because he is from this town but there is nothing to show that. All the projects I did here in Ijesa land when I was in the Senate are there. He (Aregbesola) has not done anything after those projects.”
Aromolaran, in his response, said, “As you might be aware, prominent and respectable traditional rulers are fathers to all members of political parties in the country. Our own role is to pray to God to guide all the aspirants and select those who will move our country forward and benefit the masses.
“It is in this vein that I am praying that God will be with you, guide you aright, bless your aspirations and crown all your efforts with success.”
Omisore told journalists in an interview that Aregbesola’s administration had allegedly perfected plan to further plunder the state by awarding fake contracts worth N14.4bn.
He said, “I want to alert the public to Aregbesola’s latest scheme to ensure that Osun State remains indebted to him and his cronies for at least 15 years after leaving the office because it is clear that his party (the APC) has lost the September 22, 2018 governorship election.
“This disingenuous scheme was embedded in a fake contract document titled the Award of Contract for Dualisation of Ereja Square-Irojo-Ilesa/Akure Expressway. Majestic uplift and redefinition of Ilesa City Centre and rehabilitation/reconstruction of Akoda-Ede-Ara-Ejigbo; Iwo-Osogbo and Kelebe-Iragbiji road at the sum total of N14.4bn.
“The Office of the Accountant General was immediately directed to issue an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order in favour of the bogus company under which arrangement, money due to the Osun State Government from the federation account is subjected as first line charge from source of N337m payable to the owners of the company for the next 15 years.”
But the Commissioner for Information in Osun State, Mr Adelani Baderinwa, has, in his reaction, described Omisore as a manufacturer of lies, whose “spurious allegation,” should be discountenanced by the people of the state.
He said, “We have reasons to do what we are doing and we are very serious about our projects and we have not violated any law in doing all our projects. The roads are very important to the economy.
“But we have not even awarded any of these contracts he said but we are still processing them but I am very sure that none of these has been awarded. Government desires to commence the reconstruction and rehabilitation of those roads.”
