The opposition party in Osun State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on Governor Rauf Aregbesola to give a detailed account of how he spent the N 35 billion "bail out fund" he collected in September 2015 as Osun State workers are still being owed four months full salary and seven months of half salaries.
The party, in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Prince Diran Odeyemi in Osogbo on Monday, said "it is embarrassing and fraudulent for Governor Aregbesola to be begging the CBN for another bail out when no one in the state knows when, where and how he spent the N34.98 billion he collected five months ago".
The PDP recalled its previous alerts when it condemned the piecemeal mode adopted by the state government in paying salaries which was a further confirmation that the money had been fixed immediately it was released by the CBN
It added that from its findings, "some workers in the state were last paid half of their September salaries, with all allowances being hitherto enjoyed by them removed, stressing that the retirees are also being treated in the same manner with many of them still being owed up to 6 months despite the release of bailout funds to the state in August."
It then urged the federal government to make it mandatory for the Osun State government to provide evidence of payment of salaries with bailout funds as the only condition that will enable it to access its further share of monthly allocation while further loans should never be granted to the state.
Listing Aregbesola's other channels of waste now and in the past, Prince Odeyemi said "let us not forget how this same governor recently embarked on building a fake airport the cost of which was jerked up from N 4.5 billion to N 15.5 billion; N 8 billion in acquiring his failed, phantom "Opon Imo" and a further N400million in launching the failed project upon which the state came 29th out of 36 states in the recently released WAEC results.
Let us remember his N 900 million Oodua Children's Day, the O' Calisthenics, the firework display, the N 1 billion moribund Olajokun Park at Gbongan junction being occupied by reptiles, the annual N 100 million Isese festival, the monthly multi- million naira "walk to live" jamboree, and all other wasteful ventures that later plunged the state into the current financial mess."
"All the listed programmes have no beneficial or direct impact on the lives of the people of Osun State but have all combined to wreck the economy of the state leading to the present quagmire.
" We noticed like all other citizens of Osun State that Aregbesola, used money meant to pay poor, hungry workers and pensioners to pay his Airport contractor, a company belonging to the Nigeria Air Force, while over 2000 civil servants and lecturers have been sacked apart from Doctors who have all been on strike since October last year.
"We urge Gov Aregbesola to henceforth stop blaming the PDP for his failures having been the governor for five years now but instead look inward and stop lavishing the money in celebrating his family and friends who cruise in state funded helicopter and chartered flights at the expense of the state," the PDP said.
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