The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, has been accused of diverting rice palliative meant for the people of Osun State during the just concluded festive season.
According to a report by Universalreporters, the immediate past governor of the state allegedly shared the rice within members of his IleriOluwa group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The report stated that President Bola Tinubu had ordered the Controller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi to supply 5,000 bags of rice to the Minister, and two chieftains of the party in the state for distribution to the Osun population as part of efforts to cushion the impact of the subsidy removal and the attendant harsh economy on citizens.
The report noted that the rice was provided to the trio as instructed by the President.
Oyetola was said to have received the lion’s share of the 5,000 bags of rice as he took delivery of 3,800 bags of rice while the two chieftains shared the balance of 1,200 bags of rice.
A source, according to the report, noted that the delivery of the 5,000 bags of rice came a few days before Christmas.
But none of the trio have acknowledged the receipt of the rice from the President or distributed it as intended.
The source who does not want his name in print disclosed that: “What Asiwaju (Tinubu) had in mind was to ease the pain of the people in this tough economy and released 5,000 bags of rice to be shared with Osun people through Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, another ex-governor and a Chieftain of the party.
“The rice came through the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, who incidentally is from Osun state, and it was to go to people irrespective of faith, party, and groups. But what we saw was disappointing as the intention of the President was circumvented.”
Osun Defender reports that some of the Minister’s aides had on December 30, 2023, gone on social media to share pictures of rice bagged in plain nylon to some people.
According to the aides, the rice was a gesture from Oyetola to put smiles on the faces of Osun people.
Also, the aides noted that the Minister had earlier given the members of the All Progressives Congress bags of rice, cows and chickens to celebrate the festive season.
Another source, according to the report, said the rice included in the Oyetola festive package for party members was actually provided by President Tinubu for Osun citizens.
The source added that Oyetola who should have been at the forefront of projecting the effort of President Tinubu to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians, chose to use the intervention of the President to prop his political fortune in Osun State.
“What is more disturbing is that he did not distribute what was actually allocated to him, because if you calculate what was in the table his supporters were pushing as distributed to LGs and area offices, it is less than 1,500 bags of rice. There are still more that he will need to explain who got them and how they were reached,” he noted.
The source said there is still a lot of uncertainty around the 1,200 bags supplied to the two Chieftains as no one can tell actually who they benefited.
“No one can say who benefited from the bags of rice that the two elders got. Oyetola already included on his list that he gave elders in each LGs and the two Babas can not say the same elders got the 1,200 bags with them.
“I just hope they can be fearful of the President and take out the rice wherever they kept them and give it out to the people they were meant for as people are going through tough times and support like the rice distribution will go a long way to help,” he stressed
Efforts to get the reaction of the Minister proved abortive as a call put to his spokesperson, Mr Ismail Omipidan was not picked.
Also, a text message sent to him as at 10:41pm yesterday (Thursday) and 9:42 am today (Friday), has not been responded to as at the time of filing this report.
Kazeem Badmus is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience. A professional in journalism and media writing, Kazeem prioritses accuracy and factual reportage of issues. He is also a dexterous finder of the truth with conscious delivery of unbiased and development oriented stories.
