• Aregbesola
Osun State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of paying N20 billion from the N35 billion bailout fund he received from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to a road contractor at the expense of paying the state workers’ salary arrears.
As stated by the party, the stated money was paid to the contractor last week.
A statement by Ekiti PDP's Director of Media and Strategy, Prince Diran Odeyemi in Osogbo, on Sunday, stated the party accused Aregbesola of misplacing his priority by diverting part of the bail out fund to pay the company handling the Osogbo Ring Road project at a time the workers are wallowing in abject poverty owing to unpaid salaries.
“We have it on good authority that the payment was effected last week Thursday and we have noticed that the contractor has returned to site with its men and equipment within 24 hours as requested by the governor,” the statement stated.
The party alleged further that the N35 billion bailout had since been lodged in two banks adding that while the amount lodged in one of the banks is in a fixed deposit account, as earlier alleged by the party, the other part of the money had been withdrawn from another bank to pay the company stated to have a very strong link to a Presidency figure.
“Inasmuch as we believe the road project is ideal, we wonder why an inflated road contract awarded at N1 billion per kilometre has suddenly become the priority of Aregbesola at this particular period of nine months of unpaid salary if not because of some undercurrent deals to siphon funds and shortchange the people of Osun State, the party disclosed further.
“This perhaps is the reason why the governor stated he would only pay half of March salary to workers at a meeting he held with them last week,” it added.
The party, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into the looming crisis that might be triggered by non-payment of the salary arrears in the state if Governor Aregbesola continues to deny Osun workers of their rights to get paid, having received the bailout fund from CBN three weeks ago.
“These hardships are too much for the people of Osun. We are therefore, appealing to traditional rulers and religious bodies in the state to wade in before it escalates and become unbearable because an hungry person is unarguably, an angry man,” the PDP stated.
The spokesman of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, in his reaction said: “This is nonsense. In the last four years or so that Aregbesola has been in power, the PDP has told so much lies that we are just tired of responding.”
“The banks the PDP mentioned are there for the public to corroborate the facts or fallacies of the PDP. Also, relevant institutions and officials abound in Osogbo where information flow freely, we have had enough of this irresponsibility,” Oyatomi stated.