Adeleke bled Osun finances into bankruptcy in 10 months — Osun APC
By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state Governor Ademola Adeleke of messing up the finances of the state to the extent that his government is finding it difficult to execute some of the statutory functions of the government.
According to the Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo, the state capital, the governor who has run the state aground has been running from pillar to post in order to find a solution to the state’s current financial quagmire without luck.
“It would be recalled that Adeleke squandered the N14 billion bequeathed to him by his predecessor on frivolous and unexplainable projects.
“It is also on record that Adeleke has not been able to account for the monthly Federal Government allocations from Abuja, other statutory incomes and the Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) in the last ten months.
“Osun State pensioners under the aegis of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) who are of primary school teachers extraction have equally been complaining that they have only been paid their pension only once in the ten months of the current administration, a situation that has warranted the pensioners to schedule a massive protest in the state to press home their demand.”
The state union chairman, Comrade Gbenga Oyedare, in a radio programme monitored in Osogbo yesterday, disclosed that if the Adeleke administration did not devote more fund to pay up the pension arrears, there is every propensity for the government to add to the burden of the retirees.
“What went wrong with Governor Adeleke who promised during the governorship campaign that he was having foreign currencies in abundance?
“Could it be that Adeleke’s calendar is quite different from the one in the public domain which indicates that he exhausted 10 months of his statutory 48 months lifeline?
“In all ramifications, the Adeleke administration is a monumental failure being run by a rudderless and visionless leader motivated only by the glamour and peck of office of the governor.
“If Adeleke does not lack empathy, there is no reason under the sun why he should still be keeping the Federal Government N2 billion fuel subsidy removal palliative since two months running when other states which are lucky to have caring governments have started to benefit from the largesse.
“Could it be that Adeleke and his cronies have squandered the N2 billion Federal Government fuel subsidy removal palliative or they are earnestly waiting to line their pockets with the accrued interest in the bank?
“It is saddening that when some states have been complimenting the efforts of the Federal Government by providing their own palliatives for their people, Adeleke has chosen to hoard the one for the people of Osun State for the reasons which could only be known to him and his co-travellers.
“Governance of a state is neither for the lily-livered, weaklings nor an inexperienced human being with no verifiable work history.
“Governor Adeleke should explain without further delay why his administration can no longer remit deductions from the workers’ salaries to appropriate places as and when due.
“The kick-and-start governor should state why remittances of check-off dues to the labour unions and co-operative societies are in arrears?
“Why have the offices of the newly-created ministries not taken off and why the commissioners and the Special Advisers attached to these ministries sre still operating from their staff quarters?
“The members of the public also deserve the right to know why all the heads and sub-heads in the 2023 budget have fully been exhausted on frivolous overhead charges.” the Osun State APC chairman demanded.
Reacting, PDP Chairman, Sunday Bisi berated the APC for its criticism, saying the governor has been sustaining and managing the state finances effectively.
“Osun state inherited from the APC government was financially wrecked. Yet, Governor Adeleke manages to pay monthly salaries without default till date. He has paid over N17 billion naira from inherited N56 billion naira debt. He is paying half salary debt instalmentally.
“The Governor has constructed over 50 kilometers of roads. Several bridges and channelisation projects are completed. Free medical surgeries are being held with over 50, 000 beneficiaries.
“Osun’s financial management model is superbly sound. All over the country, people are asking how Governor Adeleke is so smartly governing despite the financial liabilities. The record of the administration in financial prudence is astounding,” he stated.
