Osun State government has officially petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the immediate past governor and current Minister of Blue Economy, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola, over alleged misappropriation of a $20m World Bank health grant.
Adeleke’s government also accused Mr. Oyetola of money laundering, financial misconduct and violations of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) in the disbursement of the grant meant for health sector improvements in the state.
The petition dated March 7, 2025, and obtained by Punch on Friday, shows that Oyetola, during his tenure as governor, chaired a special Health Intervention Committee tasked with allocating and applying the grant funds.
Members of the committee included former government officials such as Remi Omowaye, Dr. Rafiu Isamatu, and Bola Oyebamiji, decided to use the entire $20m for renovating 320 primary health care centres across the state.
The petition written by the government’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi says: “This so-called renovation of primary health care centres involved building, renovation and adjustments/restructuring of some of these centres in order to attain the position of modern health centres. Having made these decisions, the Oyetola-led committee decided to award the contracts for the renovation.
“In flagrant violations of the above clear provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, Oyetola did not call for bidding as mandatorily required under the PPA, let alone allowing competition which would have afforded the state the best qualified contractors to handle the projects.
“Rather, the former governor in observing the provisions of the Act in breach, awarded the contracts to individuals who were either his cabinet members, head of one agency of government or the other, his proxies and cronies who claimed to have incorporated business names/inactive companies.”
Osun government noted that the beneficiaries of the contract allegedly included businesses with no construction experience, such as food vendors, salon operators, supermarket owners, and web designers.
Among the companies named in the petition are Poshpreneurs Nig., owned by the children of the former Head of Service, Olowogboyega Oyebade; Dotfam Multiventures Ltd, linked to the siblings of the former APC State Chairman; The Ice Firms Nig. Ltd, allegedly owned by Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Adebayo Adeleke; and Afamoks Web International, linked to former Amotekun Field Commander, Amitolu Shittu.
The state government alleges that the companies, lacking the expertise for construction, executed substandard renovation works while receiving full contract payments, thereby leading to the misappropriation of the $20m grant.
On the allegations of money laundering, the state government alleged that over ₦1.5bn, was funneled through the Osun chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria between January and October 2022.
The petition named former ALGON Chairman, Abiodun Idowu, Secretary, Olubisi Oladosu; 28 former local government caretaker chairmen; and the former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Yekeen Adebayo Adeleke, as key actors in the alleged scheme.
“In a similar vein, the government equally laid its hands on some financial records which clearly show a clear case of money laundering of huge magnitude by the past administration of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola.
Financial records cited in the petition indicate that funds “were repeatedly transferred from the ALGON account at Zenith Bank (Account Number: 1016607858) into the private account of one Akeem Ibitoye, a local government employee and Director of Finance at Ejigbo Local Government.”
The state government alleged that withdrawals ranging from N30m to over N10m per day were made in cash, with no records of the funds being used for any official projects.
But, Adebayo has dismissed the allegations, describing them as frivolous.