Spokesperson to former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, has described as misleading and clear act of mischief the report that purported that Oyetola violated the state procurement law and that he allegedly awarded one contract three times.
He noted that anyone familiar with Oyetola’s pedigree and outstanding trajectory of finicky scrutiny of records would immediately conclude that those behind the story have embarked on a futile journey, especially if the intent is to smear his person and personality.
Omipidan said the Osun State Government under Senator Ademola Adeleke only cleverly side-step the original procurement portal’s website and migrate data from it into theirs to suit their narrative to mislead unsuspecting members of the public, including the Sahara Reporters.
He further said : “A scrutiny of the website would show that what they inputed there on Monday, July 15, (the day Sahara Reporters published the story) are different from what one would find there yesterday and today. For instance, contrary to what they entered on Monday which indicated the GoF road contract appeared in three places, by yesterday, Tuesday, July 16, only number 36 showed the real contract and the sum, while 72 and 103 are all gone. What you now see on 36, is Ila rehabilitation, and 103, rehabilitation of grading of Ofatedo, as against GoF road rehabilitation mentioned as contract No.72 and 103 on their www.egp.osunstate.gov.ng. website on Monday. This is clearly one of the numerous fraudulent claims of the current administration in Osun.
“The procurement portal’s website “Gov.ng” was created by the current administration procurement . We only created “Org.ng”. The procurement website, www.ocdsosun.org.ng, which was created under our administration, is there for any member of the public to peruse to help this current public discourse.
“If they want to migrate those data on the website we created to theirs, they should be honest enough to migrate genuine data and not attempt to tamper with them just to paint us black in the eyes of the public. When a contract is carried out through Direct Labour, one does not need any bidding from any competing contracting firm, contrary to the picture the Senator Ademola Adeleke’s administration is trying to paint.
“The Sahara Reporters, over the years, have maintained a high standard for thorough investigative journalism, but on this particular case, they goofed fantastically. One would have expected the news medium to obtain the position of the people who worked in the Oyetola’s government (like the Commissioner in charge of Works, the Head of Procurement in that administration or the Spokespsrson to Ex-Governor Oyetola), but nothing of sort was done before they went to town with the sensational and destructive news. The report was biased and betrayed the basic ethics of journalism which demands for objectivity and hearing from all sides.
“The said road was awarded once. Fund was disbursed once, as against three times touted in the mischievous report. I will, therefore, implore Sahara Reporters to verify my claim and go a step further by scrutinising all the contracts awarded during our tenure as well as those by current administration since November 2022 when it came on board, then, it will be clearer to members of the public and Sahara Reporters that they are the ones that have violated Due Process and procurement law since they came on board.
“If anything, the governor’s spokesman, Mr. Olawale Rasheed, once told us how they decided to buy generating sets after the award of contract for boreholes. Equally, the State Information Commissioner, Hon. Kolapo Alimi , also admitted on air that they had awarded the Akoda road contract before going to perfect the Due Process. This is their Hallmark, not ours,” Omipidan added.
