Former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who is now Nigeria’s Interior Minister, awarded 11 contracts to nine firms at the cost of N223.2 million, for the construction of 11 fire stations in various locations in his state to All Progressive Congress (APC) party faithful, a recent documents have shown.
The contracts awarded October 15 and November 13, 2018 few days to the end of his tenure, were awarded as political patronage to party members like, Hassan Oladepo Adedapo, an APC chieftain in Ejigbo Local Government of the state, Araoye Kayode and Olapade Demola, relatives of Adegboyega Famodun, the APC chairman in the state amongst others.
According to findings obtained from the official website of the Osun State government made available by the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) in the state, it revealed that a total sum of N223 million was paid to the contractors for the construction of the 11 fire stations at N20.3 million each.
The document confirmed the completion of 10 fire stations, with the last one at 75 percent completion stage.
The fire stations were constructed in Ede, Ilesa, Ile-Ife, Erin-Osun, Iwo, Ila Orangun, Ikirun, Ikire, Ipetu-Ijesha, Ejigbo and Esa-Oke, but all are in the state of disuse.
One of the Contractors is Dekfam Nigeria Limited, a company that has siblings and relatives of Adegboyega Famodun, the APC chairman in the state as its directors. It was awarded N20.3 million to construct a fire station in Ede town.
According to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) dashboard, Dekfam Nigeria Limited was registered barely six months after Aregbesola was inaugurated as governor. The date of registration was April 6, 2011, with Registration Number: 946326.
It has No.12c, Obafemi Awolowo way, Aiyetoro, Osogbo, Osun State as its registered address, and is owned by Prince David Adekunle Famodun, Prince Janet Adebola Famodun, Prince Adedotun Babajide Famodun, Prince Joseph Adeyeye Famodun– all directors of the company.
The company, apart from being a private unlimited one, has no clear objective as to the kind of service it provides if it is construction, information technology-related, or general supplier.
Another company contracted was, Al-Baqee Nigeria Limited, a company that has Hassan Oladepo Adedapo, an APC chieftain in Ejigbo Local Government of the state has its major director.
Other directors of the company are: Kuburat Khadijat Adedapo, Jibril Opeyemi Adedapo, Sofiyat Adedolapo Adedapo, Suliyat Adedoyin Adedapo.
Al-Baqee Nigeria limited is also a company with no clear objective as to the kind of service it provides but was asked to construct two fire stations; one in Ile-Ife, the other in Ikirun.
De-Kingly Nigeria Limited, another company that has two APC chieftains – Araoye Kayode and Olapade Demola as its directors – was also awarded the contract of constructing fire stations in Erin-Osun and Esa-Oke.
Although the company was registered in 1997, it also has no clear objective as to the kind of service it provides.
Davechem Industries Limited is also one of the companies that got the contract and its main director, David Adeyemo, is a renowned chemical engineer.
