The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly denied allegations made by Governor Ademola Adeleke against former governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola. Adeleke accused Oyetola of misappropriating a $20 million World Bank health grant and violating financial regulations, but the APC has dismissed these claims as baseless.
In a petition sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Adeleke’s legal team alleged that Oyetola engaged in money laundering and financial misconduct while disbursing the grant. The funds were intended to improve healthcare in Osun State under the “Save One Million Lives” program. The petition, dated March 7, claims that Oyetola’s administration spent the money without following due process, particularly the Public Procurement Act of 2007, which requires competitive bidding.
The petition further alleges that some of the contracts were awarded to individuals and businesses with no experience in construction, including food vendors, salon operators, supermarket owners, and web designers. Osun government’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, noted that this raised serious concerns about transparency in the disbursement of the funds.
Reacting to the petition, Osun APC’s Media Director, Kola Olabisi, addressed journalists in Abuja on Sunday, dismissing the allegations as a political attack against Oyetola. He accused Adeleke of attempting to damage Oyetola’s reputation after failing to maintain control over local government administration in the state.
He said, “When the attempt to force their ways to the local government council offices failed, they are now resorting to another crude tactics of attempting to tarnish the image of the former governor of the state, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, a man of candour and probity who served the state honourably.
“In the recent propaganda escalated to the country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, chronicling falsehood to soil the name of Oyetola and those who worked in his government, the Adeleke government said the $20m Save-One-Million Lives Programme was stolen and was not used for the purpose it was meant for.”
He also presented documents that he claimed showed how the funds were properly utilized during Oyetola’s tenure. The APC insisted that the grant was used to renovate 320 primary healthcare centers across Osun and that the process followed all necessary legal requirements.
He stated, “We will share with you details of how the Oyetola government enhanced and scaled up health in Osun through the grant. We invite the media and the public to peruse the document, containing pictures of facilities and programmes executed to verify our claims.
“Not only was the fund used to improve health in the state, but the contract awards followed the relevant procurement laws of the state. We make bold to state that no commissioner, adviser or appointee of ex-Governor Oyetola was awarded contracts while serving in government.
“We challenge the state government, which is now on a witch-hunting mission, to publish names of contractors and date of contract awards to substantiate their evil narrative. Unlike Oyetola who uploaded 110 contract and procurement details on the government portal in three years, the current government has only published seven contract details in two years, raising eyebrows about his commitment to accountability and transparency.”
