OYO STATE governor Ajibola Ajimobi definitely loves his wife, as he should. Like any loving husband, Ajimobi vowed to love his wife, cherish her in sickness and in health, until death do them part when he took Florence to the altar in 1971.
However, the good people of Oyo state have been wondering lately if Governor Ajimobi also pledged to his darling wife “to enrich her with millions of naira of Oyo state government revenue, because that is what it appears Ajimobi has dedicated a substantial amount of his time and functions to as the governor of Oyo state. Even though it is true that money cannot buy love, Florence Ajimobi has been smiling to the bank, while the people of Oyo state have been grumbling to their homes with long faces.
One is not talking about the unsubstantiated arrest of Florence in London on a money laundry charge. We are talking about nepotism on a scale perhaps not seen in Oyo state since its creation in 1976.
Full disclosure, this reporter was not out looking to do a story on Mrs. Ajimobi but for an incident, which pricked our curiosity recently. We were present at a function in Ibadan the Oyo state capital, when some people publicly began to “grumble” in front of Governor Ajimobi, accusing him of preferring his wife in the award of contracts to members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Thus, as responsible members of the Fourth Estate who have a duty to inform the public about the activities of their elected representatives, we decided to do a little bit of digging and find out what could make low-level ACN party members confront their governor publicly and grumble. We interviewed one of the “grumbling” party members and she opened up on an assortment of “misdeeds” of His Excellency.
According to the woman who is from Ibadan North Local government area, Governor Ajimobi awarded the contract for production of uniforms, T – shirts and caps for the 20,000 strong members of the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES-O) running into millions of naira to just one individual; his wife. She said the governor’s action was a shock to many members of the ACN who had hoped that the governor would give the contract to members of the party who are tailors.
“This is the kind of job that members can easily do because it does not require complicated technical input like in road or bridge construction where you need engineers and other experts. Many of our members can easily provide these things and get something back at least for all the hard work that we put in to win the 2011 elections, but the governor gave the contract to his wife. That is why some of us confronted the governor openly as you saw,” she said.
PSN checks revealed that Mrs Ajimobi is indeed a Fashion Designer who has been in the Haberdashery industry for quite some time and her designs are very popular among the A – list in the Oyo state capital.
However, the Oyo state commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Taiwo Otegbeye described the allegation as untrue. “It is a blatant lie. The first sets of uniforms were sewn by tailors, the government met with the Tailors association and they are the ones handling the project across the Local Governments in line with the government’s local content law.”
However, after a bit more digging into the matter we discovered that the Honourable Commissioner had his facts wrong. While it is true that Governor Ajimobi met with the Tailors’ Association, PSN checks revealed that he did so AFTER (emphasis ours) the confrontation with party members and his wife had delivered the first set of uniforms and other equipment at a cost of about N100 million.
According to sources, Governor Ajimobi panicked after the public humiliation and hastily cancelled the Uniforms contract to his wife and re-awarded it to members of the Tailors Association and some of his assistants. He called a meeting of his aides, asked each of them to submit the name of competent tailors.
The selected tailors received N500, 000 each to produce another set of uniforms.
Another allegation levelled against His Excellency is that he awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of a bridge on the UI – Secretariat road near Bodija Estate to a company owned by relatives of his beloved wife. Since Mrs Ajimobi is a fashion designer, the governor could not directly award the contract to build a bridge to Florence because clearly, the “technicalities” involved in bridge construction are quite different from those of Fashion Designing.
Enter COPEC Nigeria Limited owned by the popular C. Zard family from Lebanon who settled in Ibadan many years ago. Florence Ajimobi’s is of Lebanese decent and from the Zard and I Mudah families. The patriarch of the family, Chief Raymond Zard OFR is a renowned businessman and philanthropist who deals in everything from textiles, gold electronics, educational institutions and restaurants to civil construction. Since the arrival of the first wave of Lebanese immigrants to Nigeria in 1890, Lebanese immigrants in Nigeria have made significant contributions to the Nigerian economy and created well-respected Lebanese communities in various parts of Nigeria. C. Zard and I. Mudah were iconic business names in Ibadan commercial circles in the early 70s. The popular Gbagi market in the city was the hub of their vast business activities.
PSN gathered that COPEC secured the contract without due diligence and a Tender’s Board review. Sources say that even if a Tender’s Board had reviewed the contract process, it could not have refused to award the contract to a company the governor favours. One of them told this reporter “the Tenders Board is made up of civil servants, and they would not turn down the directive of the Governor to award a contract to a company of his choice. Tenders Boards are mere rubber stamps and members serve at the discretion of the Governor. God helps any member who questions the governor”. QED.
Oyo state Commissioner for Information again denied the allegation: “This is another lie; it is the fabrication of mischief-makers. COPEC is handling the bridge in question. They are competent and have handled various projects across the country. As I am talking to you now (sic), the bridge is near completion, the road is higher now, and actually, I can say that the bridge is completed now. What remains is the spreading of asphalt and then to tar it. The company is competent, and they are timely. The same people said we are bringing contractors from Lagos state.
Some even said Tinubu is sending contractors to us (sic). The governor then decided to apply the local content law. COPEC is a local contractor in Oyo state. The state has also extended the local content law to Artisans, bricklayers, iron benders etc. Only contract that requires technical expertise that are not available in the state are giving out to contractors outside of the state.”
Actually, PSN did not ask the commissioner if there have been allegations that the governor has been awarding contracts to companies owned by Jagaban Bola Tinubu from Lagos, but since he digressed to that issue, we fully intend to take him up on it later. In addition, we did not question the competence or otherwise of COPEC or asked where the company headquarters is located. The questions posed to Mr. Otegbeye were unanswered. He did not disclose the contract sum for the bridge nor did he deny or confirm (with hard evidence) if family members of Mrs Ajimobi own COPEC. However, we note that he did reveal that COPEC is an Ibadan based company.
We reckon that there is nothing wrong in Governor Ajimobi showing love and affection to his wife, but not at taxpayers’ expense. However, what the people of Oyo state want from
Governor Ajimobi is not love, but a little bit of compassion by curbing his narcissistic attitude and running a responsible and responsive government.
Governor Ajimobi can show the people of Oyo state, particularly, those who voted for him, that he places a premium on their support, by giving them the dividends of democracy so that they can stop grumbling as they return to their respective homes after a hard day’s work, to love their wives and husbands just as His Excellency does everyday.