The Osun State Former Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs during the administration of Gov. Adegboyega Oyetola, Hon Adebayo Adeleke also known as Banik has refuted the fraud allegations levelled against him by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi.
In a media parley held at the office of the online publishers of Osun on Tuesday, Banik claimed that those allegations were baseless and not factual.
Insight Media recalled that the Alimi in March, called on the anti-graft agencies to arrest and probe the former commissioner and others for fraud.
Responding to the allegations, Adeleke punctured the claim by his predecessor that he was still the Chief Executive Officer of Ice Firm Nigeria Limited after receiving the appointment of commissioner from the former governor, as lie.
Adeleke said “I have what I refer to as the Bible of Timbuktu (Allegations). If you have it, I’ll refer you to some pages, and I will clear that up. This is my letter of appointment as a commissioner, dated October 24, 2019. After this date, Bayo Adeleke ceased to be the CEO of Ice Firm Nigeria Limited.
” I wrote a letter to the secretary of my company stating that I had been appointed as a commissioner and was no longer the CEO. However, this did not mean the end of the company. We continued with every job we were doing, but I was no longer the CEO.
“Everything Kolapo Alimi claimed that I signed can be found on specific pages: 58, 21, 22, and 69. If you get that book, you can check where they said I signed before my appointment, including the letter of acceptance.
Some documents were signed in August and September. However, on a radio program, it was suggested that I should have known I would receive an appointment because of my closeness to the governor. I told ICPC and others that there was no way I could have known about the appointment”, .
Speaking further,, he said “The second issue concerns the health center projects. Our company is established for mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering works. Alimi claimed that we were not qualified, but I quote from his book, not mine, on page 62. He collated information to discredit me, but I’ve been responding, and it’s had a double effect.
“ALGON is the umbrella association of local government. As a commissioner, I worked with them on joint projects approved by the House of Assembly. We received letters from communities requesting dredging to prevent flooding, which we addressed jointly.
” These were emergency situations, the process involved JAC meetings, a joint meeting of the state and local government, where we would approve projects, including a one-million-naira project. The governor would also approve these projects, and I have all the details.
“The money went to ALGON’s account, for which I am not a signatory. As commissioner, my role was to ensure that the collected money was used for its intended purpose, with pictorial and video evidence of the projects. The audited report, available on the government website, shows a clean certificate from the Auditor General for Local Government.
“I’m surprised they’re saying some things now, but when Alimi brought out the audited report, we saw that the local government has its own Auditor General. The Auditor General and ALGON work together, and the Auditor General must audit the account. He wrote a report and even gave them a clean certificate. We showed this to the ICPC auditor, and it’s all documented.
“The audited account for 2022 is available on the government website. It shows that over 300 farmlands were destroyed, but thanks to ALGON’s efforts, the damage was reduced. We have all the details, and I’m confident that our actions were transparent and in the best interest of the people”, he explained further.
“Alimi that is talking, 400 million naira in one year during his regime when he was the Commissioner, he collected cash from FCMB, there were 70 million, there were 60 million, 100 million. Even in their own they put one time say they do birthday for one of their leaders that I will not mention him. But now that we have gone to ICPC, EFCC and we are back, Nobody siphoned any funds”, he added.
The back and forth between members of the immediate past cabinet and the incumbent has continued for weeks following the February 10th Appeal Court judgement on local government officials.
