Mischief makers and peddlers of lies against the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mr Olusade Adesola, have been charged to dedicate their time and energy to more meaningful ventures, rather than twisting facts and figures to deceive members of the public.
Some online reports had alleged that the permanent secretary embarked on massive capital projects against presidential directive, recruited over 10,000 staff into the system, allocated choice lands to members of his family among several other malicious and unfounded allegations when he held sway briefly before the assumption of office by the minister.
However, addressing journalists at a press conference, a civil society group, Vanguard for Justice and Equity, advised mischief makers to desist from sowing seed of discord between the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and the permanent secretary, Olusade Adesola.
Coordinator of the group, Comrade Martins Obiora, expressed shock at the “web of lies conjured from the imagination of the reporters in a desperate attempt to get rid of the permanent secretary who has done nothing but operate within the dictates of the civil service rules.”
Obiora described the reports of “the permanent secretary using his powers to allocate land in Guzape, Apo, Asokoro Extension and other highbrow places to the Head of Service, those related to the Head of Service and all the Permanent Secretaries,” as unfortunate and calculated to cause rift and paint Mr. Adesola in bad light.
Reacting to the allegation, the group described the report as “unenlightened, a dish of lies,” stressing that no permanent secretary under the laws establishing the FCTA has the powers to allocate land in Abuja.
“It is an established fact that the powers to allocate land in any part of the territory is delegated to the minister by the president and not even the minister of state or the permanent secretary has such powers. So, it is laughable and stretching the imagination for such conjecture,” he stressed.
Obiora further dismissed claims of the appointment of an additional 10, 000 staff to bolster the FCTA workforce from 30,000 to 40, 000 within three years with “majority of the employees include: Jehovah Witnesses, where the permanent secretary worships and those from his village.”
“To set the records straight, the permanent secretary met a workforce of 32,703 as at December 2020. In December 2021, the staff count stood at 32,547, and in December 2022, the staff count was 31,860, while in August 2023, the staff count stands at 32,201. You can fact check these figures from the Human Resource Management. Playing ethnic or religious cards will not bury the basic truth,” the group stated.
The group also warned those behind the attacks to be wary of litigations as they described Mr. Adesola as “a man of proven integrity, honesty and with sound character, and not given to materialism.
Similarly, another civil society organisation, Pro-Impact Initiative, enjoined fabricators of the false allegation not to distract the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who has left no one in doubt over his noble intentions to rid the city of Illegalities and ensure massive infrastructural development.
Coordinator, Pro-Impact Initiative, Dr Osamudiamen Isokpehi, who briefed journalists over the weekend, said his organisation decided to set the records straight for the sake of well meaning residents.
Isokpehi, pointed out that contrary to ‘satanic lie’ that Olusade plotted the removal of his predecessor Sir Christian Ohaa, the former was actually posted to the FCTA during a major reshufflement of permanent secretaries which was approved by the then President.
He reminded those behind the write up that it was on August 28, 2020 that President Muhammadu Buhari redeployed Sir Ohaa from FCTA to the Ministry of Power and brought Olusade to the FCTA in an exercise that saw the redeployment of 13 permanent secretaries and deployment of the 12 new permanent secretaries who were sworn in two day before.
According to to him, the posting was contained in a circular signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, marked
