Adeleke Drags Oyetola, Allies To EFCC, Accuses Ex-Gov Of Stealing $20 Million, ₦1.5 Billion

The Osun State Government has officially petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate former governor and current Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, over allegations of misappropriating a $20 million World Bank health grant.

Naija News reports that the government accused Oyetola of money laundering, financial misconduct, and violating the Public Procurement Act in the disbursement of funds intended for health sector improvements in the state.

According to an acknowledged copy of the petition dated March 7, 2025, obtained by journalists on Friday, Oyetola, during his tenure as governor, chaired a special Health Intervention Committee responsible for allocating the grant. The committee, which included former officials such as Remi Omowaye, Dr. Rafiu Isamatu, and Bola Oyebamiji, allocated the entire $20 million to renovate 320 primary healthcare centers across the state.

The petition, written by the state government’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, alleged, “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.”

It further claimed that Oyetola violated the Public Procurement Act, 2007, by failing to initiate a bidding process and instead awarding contracts to individuals linked to his administration.

“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,” the petition stated.

The government alleged that the contract recipients included businesses unrelated to construction, such as food vendors, salon operators, supermarket owners, and web designers.

Among the companies named in the petition were:

• Poshpreneurs Nig., allegedly owned by the children of former Head of Service, Olowogboyega Oyebade;
• Dotfam Multiventures Ltd, linked to the siblings of the former APC State Chairman;
• The Ice Firms Nig. Ltd, reportedly owned by former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Adebayo Adeleke;
• Afamoks Web International, linked to former Amotekun Field Commander, Amitolu Shittu.

The state government alleged that these companies, despite lacking expertise in construction, executed substandard renovation work while receiving full payments, leading to the misappropriation of the $20 million grant.

On allegations of money laundering, the petition accused Oyetola’s administration of channeling over ₦1.5 billion through the Osun chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) between January and October 2022.

The petition named former ALGON Chairman, Abiodun Idowu, Secretary, Olubisi Oladosu, 28 former local government caretaker chairmen, and 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 Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola,” the petition stated.

Financial documents cited in the petition reportedly showed that funds were frequently 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.

It alleged that cash withdrawals ranging from ₦30 million to over ₦10 million per day were made without records of the funds being used for any official projects.

However, former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Adebayo Adeleke, dismissed the allegations as baseless.

“EFCC has not invited me, and I have not seen a copy of the petition for me to know what it is all about. If there is no proof, then the allegations are frivolous and of no stance,” he told The PUNCH.

He further accused the Osun State Government of political witch-hunting, saying, “I have become a thorn in the flesh of Gov Adeleke and PDP, and I won’t be surprised if some baseless allegations are levied against me. Anyway, they think trying to dirty my white garment will make me keep mute about their fraudulent ways of governance.”