The allegation and the threat to recall member of House of Representatives representing Akure North/Akure South Federal constituency, Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida, allegedly for non performance by a group, Akure Youths Forum, has been condemned.
A pressure group, Initiative For Akure Rebirth, described the allegation as spurious and the threat as an attempt to smear the image of the federal lawmaker.
In a statement jointly signed by the President and Publicity Secretary of the association, Ayomide Akomolafe and Oluwagbemiga Kolawole, and made available to newsmen in Akure on Sunday, said the people behind the threat were faceless and wrongly accused the lawmaker.
The group also dismissed the threat as empty, saying that the people behind the threat do not have the clout to do so.
However, the group reeled out some of the achievements of the federal lawmaker since he has been representing the constituency and his current achievements.
The statement reads in parts, “Our association, Initiative For Akure Rebirth, has taken note of the attempt to smear the image of Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida, the lawmaker representing Akure North and Akure South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
“A group known as Akure Youths Forum recently threatened to recall Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida from the National Assembly. The threat of this group was widely publicised in both the traditional and digital media.
“This group of unknown quantities in Akure wrongly accused Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida of non-performance since his return to the lower chamber of the National Assembly in June, 2023.
“The group shamelessly claimed that Prince Adesida has not brought dividends of democracy to the people of the federal constituency.
“They also claimed that he has not executed or embarked on any meaningful projects and empowered the youths and women in the constituency.
“We would have ignored the group’s misinformation, outright lies and threat to recall Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida from the National Assembly, but we know that their threat is empty and they cannot pull a strand of hair from Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida.
“But the unwary may take them seriously and their lies may be taken as the truth.
“If members of the misguided and uninformed Akure Youths Forum are true indigenes of Akure, they are expected to know or have been told the laudable contributions of Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida to the development of Akure Kingdom. There is no doubt that Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida loves Akure and is genuinely concerned about the development of the ancient city.
“Youths have always been the major beneficiaries of his development efforts in both private and public sectors.
“Hundreds of young people, most of whom were from Akure, used to work in his companies in those days, especially Derin Computers and Ala Community Bank. He established these companies out of his quest to invest in the development of Akure and provide jobs.
“When Prince Abiodun Derin Adesida represented the federal constituency between 2007 and 2011, he facilitated employment of no fewer that one hundred youths. Most of them were employed into the Nigeria Custom Service.
“In less than one year of his return to the National Assembly in 2023, he has helped no fewer than 30 Akure youths to secure employment. Some of them are currently working with the Federal Road Safety Corps.
“He has on several occasions provided funds for other serious youths and women to do one trade or the other. Apart from the ongoing registration of men and women, young and old people in the constituency by Hon. Abiodun Derin Adesida to benefit from the distribution of N150,000 cash each, some members of the constituency have received N50,000 each per month from the Federal Government for over three months.
“We believe there is nothing wrong with people monitoring the performances of their representatives in public offices and putting them on their toes in order to have a better society. But it is highly immoral to tell outright lies or misinform the whole world about their performances.”