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From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Ogun State Government has dismissed the statement by the Ogun State chapter of the Coalition for United Political Parties (CUPP) over its accusation that the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration was plunging 68.1 percent of people living in Ogun State into poverty as the ranting of political jobbers and fraudsters stunned by the governor’s rising political profile.
The government, which described the Femi Sholuade-led CUPP as a gang of political obscurantists desperately seeking relevance by concocting voodoo figures, challenged the coalition to release the statistical evidence backing its submission or remain silent forever in the gutter of irrelevance to which it belongs.
This position was contained in a statement signed by Kayode Akinmade, Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Governor, yesterday.
Addressing newsmen in Abeokuta, chairman of CUPP in the state, Sholuade explained that it had become imperative to call the attention of the people of Ogun State to the “acute mal-governance, maladministration, insensitivity and deliberate institutionalised economic rascality and slavery of the people by the APC-controlled administration under Governor Dapo Abiodun in the last 24 months.
He noted further that the Coalition had observed that the incumbent administration in the state, due to its massive neglect of infrastructural development, has left major roads in the state capital in a deplorable state.
Flanked by other executive members of the CUPP, Sholuade said as responsible opposition political parties, it remained its duty to inform the people of Ogun whenever a sitting government has derailed from espousing good governance capable of making life more meaningful to the people.
He alleged that the governor has consistently demonstrated a penchant for disregard of due process and due diligence in the awards of contracts, saying, “he now engages quacks and unqualified people outside Ogun State to do all manners of shoddy jobs.”
He further alleged that the governor has been awarding civil and building construction works without bidding processes while quacks with no certificate of registration and registered office addresses have been the beneficiaries.
“All our roads are in a calamitous and dangerous state as a lot of the contractors who are the beneficiaries of awards only erected their sign boards as a decoy but they have no equipment to work.
“Governor Dapo Abiodun’s cluelessness has also plunged Ogun State in total darkness whereas so many states in the federation are evolving into solar or going into independent power projects in order to improve their economic fortunes with stable supplies of electricity.
He, however, disclosed that the CUPP have engaged the service of legal practitioners and consultants to demand under the Freedom of Information Acts 2011 from the Ministry of Finance under Dapo Okubadejo and Ministry of Housing under Jagunmolu Akande Omoniyi, to make available all required documents and information on the proof of payment and names of persons allotted houses in various housing schemes across the state not later than seven days.
Reacting to the allegations, however, Akinmade said the state government was not perturbed by the antics of corrupt and perfidious individuals who can only thrive in mushroom parties which they used as meal tickets.
He dismissed CUPP’s statement and described it as “nothing but a vainglorious, irredeemably illiterate and utterly mischievous concoction that can only excite ignoramuses.”
The statement read in part: “Were it not for the need to disabuse the minds of innocent people who may be taken in by CUPP and its tales by the moonlight, it would have been entirely unnecessary to dignify the utter gibberish by CUPP and its sponsors with a reply, but we owe the nation a record to curtail the spread of fake news released with intent to create chaos in Ogun State.
“One would wonder how Governor Abiodun had pauperized Ogun State through investments such as the$400m MoU with Arise Integrated Industrial Platform on the development of Olokola Free Trade Zone and Remo Agro Processing Zone; the $500m investment by the African Industries Group; the Canadian Government’s promised investment in the agricultural and technological sectors of the Ogun economy to strengthen over 60 years of the bilateral relationship with Nigeria; the $500 million investment by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to enhance power infrastructure in Ogun State; the Galaxy Steel Company Limited $300 million investment to establish a new steel plant for the production of specialised steel products in Ogun State, and the $5 million battery recycling plant by a British company, among others.
“As Governor Abiodun himself has said, Ogun remains the safest state in the country due to the security architecture put in place, while over 600km of roads have been constructed and various reforms and policies put in place to help improve the Ease of Doing Business ranking of the state.
“CUPP and its sponsors are just playing to the gallery because some politicians gave them money to rubbish the achievements of the governor in various sectors. Most of these so-called CUPP members lack integrity; they should be disregarded. Only the blind will fail to see the achievements of the current administration in Ogun.
“Their hearts are full of mischief and evil, we understand why CUPP and its sponsors are willfully and deliberately blind, and cannot see the numerous achievements of Governor Dapo Abiodun, for which the good people of Ogun State remain deeply appreciative.
“CUPP’s statement is nothing but a vainglorious, irredeemably illiterate and utterly mischievous concoction that can only excite ignoramuses. Just how can anyone who claims sanity say that a Governor who has been radically transforming Ogun State and made it an investment destination has plunged the populace into poverty by so doing?
“On a weekly basis, the Ogun State governor inaugurates new roads. In November last year, during the commissioning of the Ojodu Abiodun-Denro-Ishasi-Akute Road, Governor Dapo Abiodun announced plans to award contracts within the next two weeks for the construction of the Alagbole-Akute and Akute-Oke-Aro-Ijoko roads in the Ifo Local Government Area, arguing that a robust road network is essential for development. That is his style.
“The Ogun State Government did not give out houses freely; it is not a bazaar – people paid and were allocated the houses. Government made advertisements on housing schemes, people applied and were allocated houses accordingly. If CUPP has concrete evidence of wrongdoing, we challenge it to publish it.
“It is a pity that Femi Sholuade says that many states in the federation are evolving into solar or going into independent power projects in order to improve their economic fortune with stable supplies of electricity, without paying attention to happenings in his own state.
“The law establishing an Ogun Electricity Market (OGEM) to ensure increased quality and quantity of services to Ogun residents has just been assented to by the governor.
“It will provide a deregulated market for electricity, including several major players like the Transmission and distribution companies, among others; provide a framework and map for the private sector, commercial viability, service, and improve the people’s wellbeing, facilitate business, enhance industrialization and promote peace and development across the State.”
