The Oyo Lawmaker representing Irepo/Oorelope/Olorunsogo Federal Constituency at the floor of Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Olumide Abiodun Ojerinde has condemned and frowned at campaign of calumny unleashed against his person by the correspondent, Luqman Soliu of Oke-Ogun Reporters, describing the report as fallacy and unverified publication aimed at tarnishing his image.
This was contained in a release personally issued by Abayomi T. Ogunowo, Senior Legislative Aid to the lawmaker and made available to the news men.
According to the statement, “I stand to respond and condemn the campaign of calumny unleashed against Hon Olumide Abiodun Ojerinde by one Luqman Soliu, a corespondent of Oke Ogun reporters who claimed to have conducted an outrageous, false and malicious investigation to assess the performance of the House of Representatives members representing the Oke-Ogun at the 9th Assembly”.
“It is regrettably however that the said investigation is fake, and was a calculated attempt to discredit the good works of Hon Olumide Abiodun Ojerinde. Therefore, the said investigation should be disregarded. The allegations are baseless, unfounded and borne out of vindictiveness of his success stories since he assumed office”.
“For the avoidance of doubts, Hon Olumide Ojerinde as the Federal law maker representing the good people of Irepo Oorelope Olorunsogo Federal Constituency commenced his legislative duties with utmost hard work and dedication. He was guided by the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others. Being a trained administrator and icon of development, his performances in the act of legislation so far in spite of his stay in the green chambers further demonstrated his untiring resolve to not only improve but to transform the lives of the people”.
“The tempo of development, progress and constituency projects under Hon Olumide ABIODUN is steady and unprecedented. However, for the purpose of constructive engagements and benefit of doubt recall the functions of a legislator as a member of the Green chamber”.
“The House of Representatives is one of the Chambers in Nigeria’s Bicameral legislature, the National Assembly whose power to make laws is summarized in chapter one, section four of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. The Constitution has vested in the National Assembly the power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the Federation. The National Assembly also has broad oversight functions and is therefore empowered to establish committees of its members to scrutinize bills and the conduct of government institutions and officials”.
“Since commencement of legislative activities one year ago and in line with his Constitutional mandates;
- Hon Olumide Ojerinde has worked to push forth some initiatives/bills that appealed to the middle and lower classes.
- His actions are refined in response to public sentiments aimed at improving the people’s values and specific welfare sectors manifesting his achievements which is reflected in his legislative interests as education, security, agriculture, women and youth development just to mention few. These are briefly highlighted:”
POLITICAL/LEGISLATIVES ROLES
“As a member of the House of Representatives, he serves on a variety of committees as a member: appropriation, labour, communication, police affairs, constitueny outreach, ecological fund, solid mineral, privatization and communication. Though not given to frivolities, Hon Olumide ABIODUN OJERINDE is more on
the quiet but visible side. Nonetheless, as an achiever, he is one of the few Honourable Members in the 9th Assembly relies upon to push its agenda. His bill sponsorship and voting records indicates that he is a loyalist to the Nigerian project. He is considered to be among the most active and youth friendly members of the Green chamber. Some of the bills he sponsored and presented on the floor of the Green chamber includes:”
“1. Bill for the establishment of Federal Medical Center, Igboho (awaiting second reading)
- Bill for the establishment of the college of Education, Igbeti (awaiting second reading)
- Bill for the establishment of federal university of agriculture, Igboho (awaiting second reading)
- Bill for the establishment of federal polytechnic, Kishi ( awaiting second reading)”.
“Driven by the zeal to give back to his constituency, he became the first among others to establish 3 Federal constituency offices in fulfilment of Constitutional requirements. This office is located at Igboho, Igbeti and Kishi. It is well furnished and open to all members of the federal constituency”.
“HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Honourable Olumide Abiodun Ojerinde is increasingly known as a trusted and stabilising force within and outside his Federal Constituency. This is because of his quick response to calls in events of celebrations and emergencies be it man made or natural”.
“A man whose ideologies are people centred, he is unassuming and target driven. His main focus is the wholistic development of the people by changing the naratives. He had on different occasions distributed trailer load of food and gift items to the people during celebrations. In one of such occasions, he donated many bags of rice and food items to Christians during Christmas celebration and to the Muslim community, during Salah celebrations and also to the traditional religion community”.
“Early this year when the Covid-19 infection was declared a global health pandemic, most nations of the world quickly locked down in order to limit the spread of the virus. Nigeria was not left out in the adoption of this approach but this came with unintended consequences of economic hardship. Being a man who cares about the well-being of his people, he cheerfully donated relief materials worth millions of naira as palliatives to the constituent for onward distribution to the vulnerable people”.
“CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS
In order to sustain his people centred developmental strides across the Federal Constituency, he set in motion frameworks which continued to drive the process in fiscal prudence, transparency and strategic intelligence. In doing this, he appointed 10 special aids selected from the 3 LGAs of the Federal Constituency. This was a purposive action directed towards poverty/unemployment reduction among the youths. He has established and maintained a vibrant yet, functional liaison offices across the 3 LGAs in order to remain not only close to the people he represents but connected as well”.
” This is the reason why most of his developmental approaches are people centred. The Honourable Member went on to lobby for permanent and pensionable appointments to some youths with Federal government agencies, ministries and parastatals including higher institutions with a promise and strong indication that more are on the way”.
“EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS
The people of Irepo, Oorelope, Olorunsogo are predominantly farmers who are known for their dedication, honesty and peaceful disposition. Perhaps, these qualities placed them in the fore as people who are thirsty for development. They vigorously eschew things that weaken their greatness and are guided by the believe that patriotism cannot be substituted for any form of divide. They do not doubt the power of collective ideals rather, the people trusted Hon Olumide Ojerinde to be the great force for change and they do not despair but believed in his promise and greatness to provide the ideals of governance and quality representation. He reciprocated this trust, and within one year have
- Trained and empowered over 200 farmers with load of assorted fertilizers
- Distributed grounding machines
3. Generators - Vulcanizing machines
- Sewing machines
- Clippers and hair dryers
- N2000 donations were paid through community Bank in Igboho, Igbeti and Kishi to 3500 people during the 2019 Xmas.
- In March 21, 2020, artesian group within the Federal constituency were empowered and over 240 items were given to different groups across the 3 LGAs:
- cameras & printing machines for photographers
- bricklayer tools for bricklayers.
3. Carpentry tools for Carpenters - rewire Tools for reviewers
- panel beater tools
6 bike mechanic tools - welding machines
- aluminum tools and machines
- knitting machines.
Similarly, Over 250 market women were given a soft loan of N10,000 only to help empower them in their respective trading and business activities in Irepo Oorelope Olorunsogo federal constituency.
10. In August, 2020, 250 women and youths were trained in comestology, in the three Local government areas; - Detergents productions
- Comestic and creams
- Liquid odor control/ airfreasher production
- Hand sanitizer”.
“Indeed, the negative perception of non-performance of the National Assembly has changed due to the distinguished efforts as exemplified in his numerous achievements in one year in office as the Honourable Member representing the good people of Irepo Oorelope Olorunsogo federal constituency of Oyo state. The new and exciting leadership direction, enduring stability and credible performance level stems in part from the maturity, high sense of responsibility and gravitas demonstrated by Hon Olumide Ojerinde in his first year in office. All this laudable achievements are not rethorics, evidence and records are available for investigation.
As we roll into the second year, we are sure he will consolidate and improve upon this foundation to enhance Democracy and its dividents.
In his 2020 plans and programs,
efforts is ongoing to;
- Renovate some schools within the Federal Constituency
- Facilitate CBN agriculture loan to farmers
- Empower graduates
- Built modern borehole across all the 30 wards and focus more visible projects”.
“Haven’t outlined his activities so far, I put it to you Mr Luqman Soliu of Oke-Ogun Reporters that you have resorted to personal vendetta against the person and the office of Hon Olumide Ojerinde just because according to your testimonies you called, text and chat him up without responses”.
“I put it to you again, have you ever contacted his office? Do you formalised your intentions to investigate his activities through his office?
As a trained journalist does calling, wassup and text messages a valid medium for investigative journalism? Why do we pulled ourselves down in this part of the world?
Why do we compromised standards and obstructed the truth by misleading the general public just because you didn’t get his attention? This is the main reasons some good sons and daughters of Oke Ogun prefer to stay back in foreign countries or in other parts of Nigeria to invest their resources.
The records of his programs are available if you care to embark on proper investigations. Let us stop all this brown envelope journalism. Let join hands to move the entire Oke Ogun forward”, Ogunowo concluded
