The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday said the defeated governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has merely demonstrated further the mischief and ignorance he is known for with the fraudulent N480 billion loan figure he alleged during the interview he granted on his radio station, Crown FM.
Responding to Omisore’s allegation where he alleged that Governor Aregbesola has exposed the state to loans, the Director of Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, said 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.
Okanlawon said: “Every knowledgeable person in Osun and beyond has the figures of the Osun borrowings by virtue of the open nature of the Aregbesola’s administration.
“Osun could not have borrowed in secrecy as the two bonds in the capital market and the Sukuk Bond were taken in celebrated manners.
“While we took a N14.4 billion Sukuk bond with 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. Omsiore has said other than regurgitating the same old-fashioned, weather-beaten lies that could not help him dislodge Aregbesola in the August 9 governorship election?”
Okanlawon stated further that the people of Osun State, whom Aregbesola owes adequate information about the state’s finances, are well-informed about their state’s finances, asking Omisore to explain why states under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party with high revenues accrual are among the highest indebted states in Nigeria.
He added: “If it is not crime for a state government to source for funds for the development of the state, Omisore needs to tell us why states under the administration of his party, the PDP, are among the debtor states in Nigeria.
“So, if states with higher revenues from the Federation Account could borrow, how do you explain a state like Osun which was number 34th on the allocation ladder not seeking financial help where applicable to aid its development?
“The other alternative, as Mr. Omsiore would want us to believe, is for Aregbesola’s government to have left our dear people the way he met them and not lift a finger to transform their lives.”
The statement also added that this is not the first time Omisore would throw up bogus figures as a means of confusing the people and blackmailing the governor.
It said: “However, it is sad to note that this politician has failed to realize that this is the very strategy that has been his greatest undoing.
“For instance, the Gbongan-Akoda Road; Osogbo-Ila-Odo-Kwara Boundary Road which Omisore has fraudulently put at a cost of N102billion all together cost a bit higher than N60billion. While the Gbongan-Akoda-Osogbo Road costs N29.2 billion; the Osogbo-Ilaodo-Kwara Boundary is to gulp N17.8billion while the Oba Adesoji Aderemi Second Bypass Road will cost N14.5bn.”
Okanlawon said it would have made more meaning for Omisore to give a complete breakdown of his figures and how he arrived at a debt burden of about N500 billion.
He said: “However, we are not surprised at this warped sense of arithmetic. It is this same problem that has robbed him of basic knowledge of banking rules which ought to make Omisore to know that no financial institution could have borrowed a state more than it can earn.”
The statement noted although the state is owing its workers just as many other states is affected in Nigeria, the government is working round the clocks to ensure that the workers are paid.
Okanlawon added that despite its poor revenue, Osun State has been adjudged the best managed economy and with a chain of commendable projects that are touching the lives of the people.
“We are disturbed by the delay in payment of salaries and the fact that Nigeria is at this point. What the situation calls for is for Nigeria as a whole to take a new look at her structures and not for self-serving politicians to capitalize on the situation to score cheap political points,” he stated.