In yet another malicious report with predetermined notion  to tarnish the image of the Ogun State Government, the serial blackmailer and fake news merchant, Daud Olatunji, has alleged that the Dapo Abiodun administration budgeted nearly N1 billion for non-existent ministries in Ogun State, insinuating that the government is frittering away Ogun resources through these means.

In concocting his so-called "investigative report," Olatunji did not bother, as journalistic ethics would easily have demanded, to seek clarifications from Ogun State on its publicly displayed documents. That would have saved him from needless embarrassment.

The fact of the matter is that about a year ago, during the swearing-in of members of his cabinet, Governor Abiodun announced the plan to establish the Ministries of Mineral Resources, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Digital Economy, and Energy. Subsequently, machinery was set in motion to bring these ministries on stream.

The Budget Ministry, in a bid to ensure that the ministries, once operational, will have a budget head where they can source money instead of resorting to contingency funding, made budgetary provisions for them to smoothen their operations, as it is its duty to do. A budget, as even the layman knows, is a projection, a financial proposal for specific fiscal year.

In line with the transparency and accountability culture of the Abiodun administration, the provisions were made public, being uploaded on the Ogun State Government’s website.

It is therefore,  utterly ridiculous and highly primitive on the part of this junk writer that despite simply copying the allocations to these agencies from the Ogun State website, Daud Olatunji falsely  claimed to have conducted an “investigation” and alleged that the Abiodun administration is running an opaque budgeting system. On the  premise of logic, how does capturing all the projected expenditure of Ogun State and uploading it online amount to opacity?

As of today, the ministries have yet to take off, and the budgetary provisions made for them remain intact. No kobo has been sourced through the ministries since they are yet to begin operations due to certain logistic problems. In any case, the year 2024 has not ended, and it cannot be concluded yet that they will not commence operations this year.

The budget that Platform Times referenced with glee is just a proposal meant to ensure that once operational, the ministries do not have to engage in funding through contingency because the government made provisions for them based on the expectation that they would begin operations as earlier scheduled.

We are not surprised about the innuendoes in Daud Olatunji’s “investigative report.” It is his usual character  to blackmail Ogun State and its government, looking for loopholes where there are none out of parochial tendencies.

As a notorious  purveyor  of fake news, Olatunji, since being summarily dismissed by the Punch for publishing a fake story about Ogun State that embarrassed the newspaper and called its integrity into question, has been using the Platform Times as a ductile tool  to sell blantant lies to unsuspecting populace about the government of Ogun State; Unfortunately for him, the public is familiar with his antics.

Before his ignominious dismissal from Punch, he had been sacked from the employ of Vanguard Newspaper and the Nigerian Tribune after his criminal dealings came to light and upon discovering his use of multiple fake identities. The evidence is overwhelming: he is a big fraud.

We urge the public to consign Platform Times’ garbage to the trash can where it rightfully belongs.

Olaniyi Ajibola

Senior Special Assistant to Ogun State Governor on Strategy Communications.