Food Poisoning: APC Slams Adeleke For Serving ‘Innocent’ Pupils With Substandard Food

By Grace Isaac, Osogbo

The Osun State Chapter of of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned the government of the state to stop toying with the lives of the “innocent” school pupils with the substandard food being served the pupils by the government’s food vendors.

Report had it earlier that no fever than 18 pupils of James Primary School B, Osogbo, reportedly landed in the hospitals after eating a mid-day meal served to them under the free school feeding programme of governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration.

Reacting to the report, The Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo on Tuesday stated that the reported incident of the food poisoning was a cumulative effect of the lackadaisical approach of the man at the helm of affairs in the state to the running of his government.

It reads”Following the incident of suspected food poisoning of 18 pupils of the Osun State public schools from the free meal programme of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration, the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned the governor to stop toying with the lives of the innocent school pupils with the substandard food being served the pupils by the government food vendors.

The Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo on Tuesday stated that the reported incident of the food poisoning was a cumulative effect of the lackadaisical approach of the man at the helm of affairs in the state to the running of his government.

Lawal hinted that it was only an irresponsible government like that of the obnoxious one being run by Adeleke and his co-travellers that can afford to toy with the lives of the pupils who are the future leaders of this country.

The state APC chairman explained that the untoward incident of the suspected food poisoning of the pupils through school feeding was an embarrassment to the citizenry of the state and a gauge for the unpreparedness and inability of Governor Adeleke to provide qualitative governance.

He said he wasn’t surprised that things are working upside down for the Adeleke administration when the governor himself has absconded from the state without any information about his whereabouts in the last 32 days.

Lawal stated that this is always the case when what is in place is an absentee governor who has been running his government by proxy.

He advised the apparently confused Governor Adeleke to stop the free school feeding programme which he started just about two weeks ago.

In Lawal’s words: “The humanity in me became uncomfortable when one of the mothers of the victims gave an account of the state of his child that immediately his son came back from school, he started smelling an offensive odour of rotten eggs.

“Is it true that only miserable N64 was budgeted for each pupil per meal? Is it true the government of Adeleke pays N10,000 per month to each O’Meal vendor?

“If these allegationas are true, then Governor Adeleke must have a clear conversation with his Creator. How would the food vendors be dedicated when they are paid peanuts and are not supplied with the right food supplies, at a time he himself budgeted billions for his own food and refreshments?

“Why would the innocent children be fed with rotten eggs if not that someone somewhere was being pathologically wicked or glaringly taking an undue advantage of the laxity in the administration of Governor Adeleke created by ineptitude of its leadership?

“The children affected are the future leaders of this country. If Governor Adeleke had been fed with rotten eggs when he was a school boy like it happened to the innocent school children, would he have secured the opportunity to become the controversial governor that he is today?

“All the stakeholders should rise up to condemn the laissez faire approach to governance by Governor Adeleke which was partly manifested with the suspected poisoning of the 18 school pupils with his ill-thought-out and substandard free school feeding programme”, Lawal solicited.

Meanwhile the Osun State government has ordered full investigations into the reported cases of food poisoning at St James Primary School B, Owoope Osogbo

The state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, said in a statement on Tuesday that the state governor, Ademola Adeleke has directed immediate action when the matter was reported to him by the Special Adviser on O-Meal, Mrs Grace Oluwaseyi Ayodele.“

The Governor has subsequently directed stoppage of further food cooking at the affected school pending the outcome of the investigations.

“The affected cooks in the said schools alongside the Planning officer for the O-Meal programme have also been summoned to a meeting by Tuesday morning.