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Political activist and National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin Human has submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, detailing allegations of financial recklessness and corruption against Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.
Odumakin, who is an indigene of Osun State, submitted the petition on behalf of a group, Osun Stakeholders, on Monday. In the petition titled, “Petition against Governor Rauf Aregbesola for financial recklessness, corruption, money laundering and fraudulent application of Osun State’s resources,” Odumakin alleged that Aregbesola has sunk the state into abject poverty.
While calling for a forensic audit of the Osun State government accounts, the group noted that the petition was part of the resolution reached at its stakeholders’ summit on Osun State held on July 23, 2015. He said, “In addition, the state is littered with abandoned projects even though loans were secured by this administration to execute them. Today, our dear state has become the embodiment of lack, poverty, purposelessness, wickedness and insensitivity of political leaders of the highest order in the country.”
According to the petition, Osun has become the poorest state in Nigeria. It stated that families could no longer survive and the people of the state now look up to the EFCC to ensure that the state’s funds were recovered. It said Osun State had become an object of scorn and a symbol of poverty in the nation because of Aregbesola’s recklessness.However, the Director of Research, Strategy and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, described the allegations as baseless and laughable. He said the state government owed only N87bn, adding that the government could account for every penny spent.
In his words, “The entire debt of the state government currently stands at N87bn. We took over government in November 2010 and between November and December, we got N5.6bn. In 2011, we got N59.2bn. In 2012, we got N75.6bn. In 2013, we got N104.2bn. In 2014, we got N49bn and so far this year, we got N24bn.
“All these monies were received as federal allocation, from budget augmentation, from the Excess Crude Account and other sources of income. Within these periods, we spent about N196bn on salaries, pensions and other expenditure. So, how have we mismanaged the state?”Oyatomi said anyone that was accusing the state government must be ready to provide evidence.He said those who were sponsored to write the petition would be defeated just as they were “defeated at the governorship poll on August 9 and at the tribunal and the Appeal Court.”
