.As Gov blasts group
CHIGOIE AMADI
The Ogun State Chapter of the Coalition for United Political Parties (CUPP) has accused Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration in the state of plunging 68.1 percent of people living in Ogun State into poverty by abandoning purposeful governance.
The Coalition equally alleged that the governor and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have opted to engage in massive neglect of infrastructural development across the state.
Addressing newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the chairman of CUPP in the state, Femi Soluade, explained that the press conference had become imperative in order to call the attention of the people of Ogun State to the “acute malgovernance, maladministration, insensitivity and deliberate institutionalized economic rascality and slavery of the good people of Ogun State 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 very deplorable state.
Flanked by other executive members of the CUPP in the state at the press conference, Soluade said that as responsible opposition political parties, it remained its duty to inform the people of Ogun whenever a siting government has derailed from espousing good governance capable of making life more meaningful to the people.
He alleged that the governor has consistently demonstrated 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 economy fortune with stable supplies of electricity.
“Governor Dapo Abiodun administration has successfully made 68.1 per cent of people living in Ogun State poor via the multidimensional poverty level across states in Nigeria”, Soluade stated.
He, however, disclosed that the CUPP in Ogun State 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.
“The CUPP under my leadership has taken steps to report to the EFCC and the ICPC all road contractors who for reasons best known to them took government money but criminally abandoned such roads. And we shall also report all the various unethical financial under-dealings going on under the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led and APC controlled administration in Ogun State, and the Governor should be prepared to meet us in Court
“The people of Ogun State deserve the best in 2027 as APC under this administration has fallen and failed woefully in all ramifications”, Soluade submitted.
Meanwhile, the Ogun state government has described the CUPP allegations as ranting political jobbers.
The government in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information and Strategy, Mr Kayode Akinmade said the CUPP members are a gang of political obscurantists desperately seeking relevance by concoction voodoo figures.
Akinmade said he was not surprised by the antics of corrupt and perfidious individuals who can only thrive in mushroom parties which they used as meal tickets.
The statement said: “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”.
The statement wondered 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.
It continued: “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 achievements.
“Their hearts being 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 economy 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.”
