Letter To Oyo State Apc Leaders And Stakeholders
In my letter of July 9th, 2016 titled, Open Letter to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, I indicated that the promise made to the people of Oyo State by “His Excellency” Governor Abiola Ajimobi that local government election will hold in the state in September this year is a ruse because a power higher than the governor in the state and commander in Chief of Ajimobi's action, Mrs Helen Ogunesan said she will not allow the governor to hold any election anytime soon. Since inception of this administration in 2011, Ogunesan has been controlling and deciding the actions and inactions of the governor.
Forget the usual posture of a tough, rigid and highly decisive man the governor likes to portray himself, any decision he makes publicly (especially on local government or Oke Ogun zone) without consulting Ogunesan must be changed and Ogunesan has never pretended about it. As the governor boasted that election will hold in September this year, she told a group of three people in Ibadan that the election will only hold when she wants and instructs the governor to do so. In the present day Oyo state, it is better to listen to Ogunesan than the governor. It is better to wrong the governor than Ogunesan and it is better to disobey the governor than the iron lady.
Apart from Ogunesan, the two most powerful people in this government are probably Hon. Yekini Popoola who has been serving as the Chairman of Irepo local government and doubles as ALGON Chairman since the inception of the administration over five years ago. The second one is Hon. Bimbo Kolade who has been serving this administration since inception as commissioner in various juicy ministries. He served as Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Commissioner for Works and Transport, Commissioner for Lands and Housing during the first term .He was appointed Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters at the beginning of Ajimobi's second term. The duo saw the other side of Ajimobi for disobeying the Almighty Ogunesan and they were suspended from office in August 22nd, 2016. This action only increased the list of causalities recorded from the unholy relationship between Ogunesan and Ajimobi.
The first casualty was Hon. Peter Odetomi, the first Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters appointed by Ajimobi. He was moved from the juicy ministry to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources because of domineering effect of Ogunesan that he resisted. Ajimobi told Odetomi to learn how to work with Ogunesan or lose his job. It took the intervention of Soun of Ogbomosho land to change the mind of Ajimobi to transfer him to another ministry rather than terminate his appointment. Hon Peter Oluremi Odetomi was a two term Executive Chairman of Ogbomosho South Local Government. He was the running mate of Ajimobi during the 2007 Governorship election. Needless to say that he would have been Ajimobi's deputy if they had won the election under ANPP. He was subsequently frustrated out of government and the party by Ogunesan and Ajimobi.
But who is this Helen Ogunesan? Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi once had to ask the question after encountering problems with her on some Oyo town chieftaincy matters. She is the all powerful civil servant and staff of Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters. She started her career as a typist at Oyo Stated Agriculture Development Project (OYSADEP) Shaki. At the inception of Ajimobi's administration, she was an Assistant Director in the Ministry. She has however jumped several steps to become the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry. To get to this position, several Senior Officers were compulsorily retired, had their appointments terminated or transfer out of the Ministry for her. She is an expert in framing up and setting people up for sack and compulsory retirement. During the award of contracts for road projects out of the Excess Crude Oil account of the local governments in 2013, she unilaterally awarded contract worth over One Billion Naira to her proxy company Admok Construction Company Ltd. The contracts were from three councils in Ibarapa and seven councils in Oke Ogun areas of the state.
Some directors in the state civil service have fallen victims of Ogunesan's axe and lost their jobs. People like Taju Ajibola, Sola Ogundiwin, Gabriel Okewale, Taiwo Oni, John Adeleye among others
During the preparation for the 2015 election, the governor held a meeting with the Deputy Governor, the SSG, Chief of Staff, The Special Advisers and all the 33 council Chairmen with an agreement that N100 Million will be released to each of the council chairmen from their Excess crude account to execute capital projects to boost the electoral fortune of the party. The agreement reached by all these stakeholders was unilaterally cancelled by Ogunesan who prevailed on the governor not to release a dime. By the time the governor appointed new caretaker chairmen in June 2016, all they were told is that there is no money in the council's Excess Crude Account.
Mrs Helen Olawunmi Ogunesan nominated 7 out of the 10 chairmen caretaker committees in Oke Ogun land in addition to influencing the removal of most of the Chairmen Ajimobi did not return like Wasiu Olatunbosun of Olorunsogo, Yemi Akinlabi of Ibarapa Central, Niyi Olabiyi of Shaki East, Yunus Gbadamosi of Shaki West and Olarinre Adisa of Itesiwaju local government. She is so powerful that she used all government apparatus within her and the “remote control over the governor “to ensure that her immediate younger brother, Hon. Jide Olatunbosun becomes the member representing Shaki East/Shaki west/ Atisbo Federal constituency in the House of Representatives.
Although the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo is from the same local government with this Iron lady, the old man has been reduced to nothing politically. She constituted the APC executive in all the wards and the local government as well as the local executive of the party. She appointed the local government chairman; she nominated the member of house of assembly, the commissioner and all other appointees. The executive power she holds is so much that she is feared by all: The Speaker, the SSG, the Head of Service, the Party Chairman and all other Permanent Secretaries like her. A friction between Chief Koleosho and Ogunesan in which the governor took side with her led to the exit of the political icon from the party.
Another principal and strategic nominee of Ogunesan is Mr John Olawale Ajeigbe, the Chairman Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC). Ogunesan boasted immediately after the suspension of Bimbo Kolade and Yekini Popoola that with her control over the governor, speaker and the OYSIEC chairman, she will ensure no local government election is held this year as it will be against her interest if it holds.
The main reason why Ogunesan is against having local government election conducted is that with her position as PS, she controls all the local governments in the state. The state law does not allow any Chairman Caretaker Committee to award any contract above N500, 000 without her approval. She needs to be consulted before any big project can be executed. Once approval is requested, she decides the contractor to execute the contracts which in most cases are her own companies or fictitious ones. As of today, even staff salaries in the local governments cannot be paid without her written approval.
But what could be the underlining cause of the control she has on the governor? Your guess is as good as mine. The State and National leaders of APC should be prepared to lose the State in 2019 if the trend goes unabated.
Written by Lanre Akangbe.
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