The controversy surrounding the declared N407.32 billion debt profile of Osun State by Governor Ademola Adeleke on Thursday seems to have taken a different turn as the former governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola, who is being blamed for the debt has fired back.
CKN News gathered that Aregbesola in a statement on Saturday signed by his media aide, Sola Fasure said the immediate past governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola should blame himself for the debt profile and not him.
According to the former Osun State governor, Oyetola brought the problem upon himself because of his refusal to properly hand it over to Adeleke.
Aregbesola revealed that the two major loans he took had been liquidated while the other ones are long-term concessional facilities by the Federal Government with minimal monthly deductions.
CKN Newss earlier reported that the former Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji has come out to deny that his principal, Oyetola didn’t incur any debt during his tenure as governor of the state, alleging that the said debt was incurred by the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The reaction follows a cry out by the incumbent governor Adeleke who said apart from the November 2022 salary of the state, nothing else was left in the government covers.
Adeleke had on Thursday at a gathering with some traditional rulers said the state is indebted to the tune of N407.32 billion as of November 30th, 2022.
The governor submitted that “My administration inherited eight outstanding loan facilities, apart from salaries and pension debts, from Governor Oyetola’s administration.
“My good people of Osun state, the total loan stock as of today is N331.32 billion.
“If the N76 billion debt on salaries and pension is added, the state is indebted to the tune of N407.32 billion. The amount owed to contractors is yet to be determined.
“The only fund in government coffers, as of Monday 29th November, was for November 2022 Salary. Otherwise, the state treasury was empty.”
A claim Oyetola has denied through his media aide Ismail Omipidan saying the said debt was incurred by the administration of Rauf Aregbesola.
Omipidan stated this as a guest of Inside Politics With CKN anchored by Chris Kehinde Nwandu aired on STV on Friday
He stated that his principal did not obtain a single loan during his four year tenure
Aregbesola has reacted by blaming the administration of Oyetola for incurring the debt of N407.32 billion.
He advanced that the Osun Accountant-General should be in a better position to give the true particulars of the indebtedness of the state, warning that the impasse was between Adeleke and Oyetola, and so he (Aregbesola) should not be in the picture.
The former Osun governor further stated that “I will suggest that you look at all the loans and get to the Accountant-General of the state at Abere. I think the Accountant General or the Permanent Secretary (Finance) would have better information because it is the Accountant-General that raised a memo based on the query of the governor.
“The matter is between the Adeleke and Oyetola administrations because the Aregbesola debts have been liquidated. It was not Aregbesola that took the N18 billion loan that was taken after the election. Oyetola took some other loans, including salary support from the Federal Government.
“They caused the problem for themselves. If they had set up a transition committee and if they had cooperated well with the incoming governor after they had lost the election, there would have been a smooth change of government.
“They would have compared notes and there would be no rancour. But he was busy sowing mines on the path of the incoming governor, creating problems for him, and spending money with reckless abandon. What did he do with N18 billion? Now the new government is fighting back. If the new government takes the matter up to the EFCC, there would be problems for the Oyetola administration.
“They should count Aregbesola out of their problems because out of the three loans he took, two have been liquidated. It is only the long-term debt that is remaining and only the Accountant-General can give us the status of the loan because it is no longer what it was because deductions are being made.”