Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
When a leopard produces its own kind it is seen as a normal occurrence, however, when a tree or an animal produces an offspring that is not its replica then it calls for serious concern. This is the exact drama that played out in Ogun state as the sitting governor Ibikunle Amosun has proven his fatherhood by presenting successors who are his exact replica and having his DNA in his recent succession plan ahead of the 2019 general elections.
In Nigerian polity, it is a recurring decimal for governors and political office holders alike to pick individuals they feel are capable of covering their criminal and fraudulent escapades during their tenure in office, this is as SecretReporters gathered that in trending events in Ogun State, Gov. Amosun appears to have shot himself on the foot as it was revealed that all five names of purported successors submitted by the governor to the Department of State Services (DSS) for vetting were found wanting of one fraudulent activity or the other.
In an information made available to SecretReporters, earlier this year, Gov. Amosun forwarded the names of some of his begotten sons from the state to the DSS in a view of making one of them his successor but was hit with serious blows of confusion when he received the report from the Security agency that none of his favorites passed security checks conducted on them.
It was alleged that the governor forwarded the names of his current Chief of Staff, the Speaker of the State Assembly Hon. Suraj Adekunbi, a current House of Representatives member for Yewa South/Ipokia, his immediate predecessor and a yet to be identified commissioner, all of whom after an exhaustive security check by the DSS were discovered to have various levels of fraudulent records both national and international.
According to an extract from the report submitted by the DSS, it was alleged that one of the begotten sons of the governor was involved in a criminal case of forgery and impersonation which necessitated his return back to Nigeria from a foreign Country. It also stated that he and a former legislator were involved in a multimillion Naira scandal involving padded constituency projects which was orchestrated by his predecessor and added to the budget that eventually became a bone of contention when he succeeded him, a dispute which was eventually settled by a high ranking principal officer in the lower house after both parties pocketed hundreds of millions to the detriment of their constituents.
SecretReporters also gathered that the DSS report showed that the other proposed successor on the list who is a current top legislator in the State was alleged to own and had invested in multiple downstream depots around the city, not to mention other choice properties which he acquired by scheming off the state legislative budget and allowances of his colleagues in the state assembly for the past 8 years. It would be near impossible for the legislator to explain how he acquired all his investments which are not commiserate to his remuneration if he was to be brought before a code of conduct tribunal as he is purported to have also been involved in illegal bunkering activities as well as tampering with fuel pump meters at his depots, a practice the Department of Petroleum Resources was alleged to be aware of.
To further display a breed of people whose major hubby is to perpetuate fraudulent activities and were unfortunate to be raised under the special tutelage of the governor, sources disclosed that a current top aide of the Governor who had committed a heinous crime against a lady years ago was also included in the list as even if an attempt was made to make the charges disappear and give him a clean slate it will still be there. Our source disclosed that it was the Former President Obasanjo who stepped in to resolve the matter owing to his “closeness” to the mother of the aide.
The report also went further to allege that the Commissioner in question is a fugitive from the law with educational credentials which cannot be verified. More so, the Commissioner is purported to also be involved in a credit card scam while abroad which led to his return to Nigeria.
As days roll by, it is becoming evident that the electorates in Ogun state are beginning to lose their trust in the credibility of the outgoing governor as the opposition is fast gaining momentum owing to what appears to be the lack of a clear-cut path for the ruling APC in the state and its inability to present a candidate who has a clean sheet ahead of the fast approaching 2019 elections.
