The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State and Governor
Ayodele Fayose have disagreed over the state’s N56bn debt profile allegedly
released by the Debt Management Office.
While the opposition APC said that the latest debt figures
confirmed its position that Fayose was deliberately borrowing recklessly, the
governor said “there is no recent bulletin from the DMO website concerning debt
owed by any state as claimed in the false report.”
In a statement on Monday, the state APC Publicity Secretary,
Taiwo Olatunbosun, accused the governor of spending the borrowed money on white
elephant projects awarded to companies belonging to his cronies for personal
benefits.
He berated the governor for allegedly always lying to the
public, saying the latest revelation had put to rest his “shameless lies in
pursuit of fraudulent agenda for personal benefit while workers are unpaid for
nine months.”
Olatunbosun added, “How can Fayose commit the state to so
much debts, collect over three years allocations and other financial reliefs
from the Federal Government, yet he is owing workers and pensioners for months?
“He is taking advantage of every opportunity to criminally
exploit the Ekiti people, many of whom are sick; others are dying while the
governor and his family members are contractors executing inflated contracts.
“Fayose will surely account and pay back every penny he and
his family took from Ekiti coffers through his white elephant projects, and for
the first time, he will know that Ekiti people are no fools that he calls
them.”
However, the Ekiti State Government condemned the report
that the state borrowed N56bn since Fayose assumed office and that a fresh
N25bn loan was applied for.
In a press release on Monday, the Special Assistant to the
Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said, “There is
no recent bulletin from the DMO website concerning debt owed by any state as
claimed in the false report. Nigerians, especially Ekiti people, can visit the
DMO website for further clarification.
“The only fresh loan taken by the government of Fayose was
the N10bn grant from the Excess Crude Account, which was released to all states
for capital projects, N2.8bn requested from the Wema Bank to pay the State
Universal Basic Education Board counterpart fund out of which N1bn has been
accessed and N600m for MDGs counterpart fund, which has been repaid.”
No comments: