Former Deputy Governor of Osun
State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has stated that the loans taken by Governor Rauf
Aregbesola’s administration from various sources since 2010 when he assumed
office currently stands at over N480 billion.
But Aregbesola said Omisore’s
figures are discredited and fraudulently arranged to blackmail him.
Speaking on a radio programme
in Ile Ife yesterday, Omisore also
accused Aregbesola of alleged financial recklessness and lack of proper
planning that plunged the state into its present mess.
According to him, the loan
burden and the alleged continuous wasteful spending by the governor are some of
the reasons the administration has been unable to pay workers and pensioners
for the past seven months.
Omisore who was the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP candidate in last year’s election alleged that the
governor also wasted the state’s resources on political campaigns during the
last governorship poll and the just concluded general election without minding
the consequences.
His words: “The principal debt
of Osun State under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is N480 billion. They took N300
billion loan amounting to N10 billion for each of the 30 local government
councils.
“ They first raised N60 billion
bond and later another N40 billion bond. They borrowed for O’meal project,
borrowed for school uniform project, they borrowed for airport project.
Governor Aregbesola in his reaction said Omisore, “has merely demonstrated
further the mischief and ignorance he is known for with the fraudulent N480
billion loan figure.’’
According to the Director,
Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu
Okanlawon, while Omisore’s fabricated
N480 billion loan figure exposes his ignorance in matters of finance, he has
also demonstrated his mischief in the outright lies in his figures.
“Every knowledgeable person in
Osun and beyond has the figures of the Osun borrowings by virtue of the
Aregbesola administration’s openness.
“Osun could not have borrowed
secretly as the two bonds in the capital market and the Sukuk Bond were
celebrated.
“While we took a N14.4billion
Sukuk bond in two tranches, the state government also approached the capital
market for a N30 billion loan.
“These are verifiable facts and
which are in the public domain. So, what new thing has Mr. Omisore said other than regurgitating the same
old-fashioned, weather-beaten lies that could not help him dislodge Aregbesola
in the August 9 governorship election?
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