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114 Tractors or 31? Alimi’s Confession Raises Fresh Questions for Governor Ademola Adeleke

Published by admin on March 9th, 2026.

114 Tractors or 31? Alimi’s Confession Raises Fresh Questions for Governor Ademola Adeleke

By Adebayo Adedeji

Mr Kolapo Alimi, the self-styled Oluomo, needs no elaborate introduction in Osun State politics: he is the vexatious nuisance who goes around with the title of the Commissioner for information and Public Enlightenment. Of the commissioners who have bestriden the information ministry, the loquacious Alimi is, no doubt, the negative exemption for he combines gross incompetence with penchant for irresponsible propaganda.

The rabble rouser was again at his element last Sunday when he featured on a political programme on Fresh FM anchored by the ace broadcaster, Akinkunmi Alabi where the lying machine was confronted by the interviewer with details of the unpleasant assessment of the government of Ademola Adeleke as revealed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

On the programme, Alimi lied on two principal issues: one, on the issue of 114 tractors purportedly purchased by the Osun State Government in 2024. Two, the issue of N2 billion federal government grant to Osun for the purchase of modern buses following the removal of fuel subsidy.

Alimi said that there was no time the state government claimed that it had purchased 114 tractors. This is blatant lie, exposing the moral hollowness of Alimi. In a press statement authored by Governor Adeleke’s Spokesperson on 25 August 2024, Mallam Olawale Rasheed wrote clearly in the second paragraph of the release that, “Yesterday, the government received the first batch of 72 newly coupled tractors out of 114 tractors PAID (emphasis mine) for by the Governor Ademola Adeleke led administration in a bid to boost food production and support farmers in the state.”

Olawale Rasheed maintained further in the press statement that, “About 24 trucks of 3 tractors each have since arrived the state in the first batch of the procurement, while others are still being expected.”

In light of the above, it is safe to hold that the Osun State Government previously confirmed that payment was made for 114 tractors, even though only 72 tractors were delivered.

If that was the government’s official position in August 2024, why is the Commissioner for Information now offering a completely different account two years later—claiming that the government only paid for 31 tractors and that there was never any claim of purchasing 114 tractors or receiving 72 tractors?

What explains this contradiction? What has changed between then and now? Is the government withholding information from the public? Without mincing words, and considering the pattern of shifting narratives from Kolapo Alimi and other spokespersons of the administration, the Osun State Government owes the public a clear and honest explanation without further delay.

On the issue of the ₦2 billion Federal Government grant meant for the purchase of buses, Alimi admitted that truly no bus was purchased.

According to him, only ₦25 million was used to refurbish a few rickety buses inherited from the previous administration, while the remaining funds were diverted to support the Osun Health Insurance Scheme.

This admission raises serious questions. Why would a federal grant specifically meant for the procurement of modern buses—intended to ease the hardship caused by the 2023 fuel subsidy removal—be diverted to another purpose?

And if that money was moved to support health insurance, what then became of the ₦749 million Federal Government grant under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, which was also meant to support health insurance?

Furthermore, what has happened to the ₦2 billion left in the O’HIS account by the APC administration in 2022? How exactly has the Adeleke government utilised that fund?

Over the last three years, the Adeleke administration has received close to ₦1 trillion in revenue. And within that same period, ₦92 billion has been spent on the Office of the Governor, while not a single new bus has been procured for public transportation. This is deeply troubling.

Rather than addressing these issues directly and admitting where the administration has fallen short, Kolapo Alimi has been moving from one radio station to another, crying like a troubled gnome and shouting on top of his voice like a faulty generator defending a Babylonian regime whose record raises serious concerns.

I hope Alimi is not observing Ramadan fasting. If he is, you all know what it is…