ABEOKUTA– The All Farmers Association of Nigeria AFAN, Ogun State Chapter has said that it has never partaken in any action that tarnishes the goodwill and benevolence of the current governor of Ogun State, Prince Dr Dapo Abiodun and the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Honourable Bolu Owotomo.
The Association also distancesd itself from AFAN Executives from Abuja, saying that they are impersonators and cannot impose leadership on them in Ogun State.
The Public Relations Officer of the Association, Mr Johnson Oluwarotimi Sogunle while speaking during a press conference held on Friday at NUJ Secretariat, Abeokuta said the association will not for any reason drag the state into unnecessary uproar, saying that governor Abiodun is their Patron and they are loyal to him.
He disclosed that the impersonators used the AFAN’s logo for political and selfish purposes at Ado-Odo, Ota, Ogun State.
Sogunle declared that the association is for farmers interest and not political.
According to him, Governor Dapo Abiodun CON is our Patron and he has delivered better than his predecessors in the area of Agriculture in Ogun State, evidences abound all over the state.
“Today, we the representatives of farmers in Ogun State led by our Chairperson, Alhaja Ganiyat Adeoye-Kushimo gathered from all the zones and local government areas with some of our commodity leaders to debunk and say loudly that we have never partaken in any action that tarnishes the goodwill and benevolence of our Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun CON, the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Honourable Bolu Owotomo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and our teaming farmers all over the State, do affirm that we have been working together for years without blackmail.
“We want to state that few months ago some people who had never been part of AFAN in Ogun State wrote to the State as being AFAN Executives from Abuja and we made it clear to the State Government, the DSS, the Commissioner of Police etc, that they are impersonators and that Abuja cannot impose leadership on Ogun State AFAN as the Association emanates from farm clusters to local government, commodities, farmers cooperatives etc.
“According to our constitution, only their elected leaders from local governments can become Executives at the State level and this was the established order, with a long history of transition.
“The question is where did they derive their power. However, because we wouldn’t for any reason drag our state into unnecessary uproar, we restricted our communication on the matter to correspondences only. However, few days ago our attention was called that the impersonators used our logo for political and selfish purposes at Ado-Odo, Ota, Ogun State.
“We are here to make it clear and state equivocally to everyone in Ogun State that our Association is for farmers interest and the current Executive Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun CON is our Patron and he has delivered better than his predecessors in the area of Agriculture in Ogun State, evidences abound all over the state.
“For avoidance of doubt, 28 different agricultural infrastructures are newly built in all our farm settlements, clusters in all Senatorial Zones, Ajegunle Farm Settlement has 5000 per day broiler processing plant, with 4 cold rooms all powered with 1 megawatts solar equipment. Eruwe, Eweje, Ilaro, Coker have processing centres etc, so we have no reason whatsoever to do otherwise.
“Painting AFAN Ogun State and our Chairperson, Alhaja Ganiyat I. Adeoye-Kushimo black to our Patron and benefactor Senator Solomon Adeola Olamilekan was the height of insult as evidences are known to farmers in all local government that he gave 20 tractors with ploughs and tricycles to farmers in Ogun State, more importantly he regulated the price. This we have enjoyed for 2 agricultural seasons with cash and other value chain additions to many of our farmers. He also promised to do more.
“We remain committed and grateful for his good works. We reciprocate his genuine care for farmers, by giving him an award last April during our Congress and we will continue to support him having helped to lift our farmers up”
The Association therefore implored Abiodun to keep the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Agricultural Development Fund, Mohammed A. Ibrahim on notice that his management should not use fertilizers or inputs procured with taxpayers money by Federal Government to destabilize AFAN in South West for their selfish ends and Ogun State in particular.
