The Government of Osun State on Monday said invitations to “fake petitioners and paid agents of destabilization will put an end to frivolous petitions in Nigeria”.
Citing last Friday’s invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun over its petition alleging diversion of funds belonging to the Local Governments in the state by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor in a statement signed by its Director, Semiu Okanlawon, said the self-appointed civil society group had been making bogus claims against Governor Aregbesola and his government without producing evidence to substantiate any of the allegations.
“For instance, this was the group that accused Governor Aregbesola of embezzling the N34.988bn bailout loan obtained last year as part of the Federal Government’s intervention to assist states meet their salary obligations.
“The same group had accused Governor Aregbesola of borrowing over N750 billion, which, according to it, has not impacted on the socio-economic lives of the people of Osun.
“The government had also been accused of planning a mass sack of civil servants in the state especially in the wake of the challenges to meet salary obligations by the state.
“It is instructive that none of these allegations and others from this same group has been proved to be true,” the Bureau stated.
The Bureau described the CSCEO as dubious two-man contraption put together and masquerading as a pro-people organization.
“We must remind Nigerians lest they take this group serious at all that Mr. Sulaiman Adeniyi who claims to be the leader of the group and Seun Adeoye, have been no more than two hired hands of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun and its allied opposition elements.
“It is pertinent to state that the so-called civil society group is a contraption hurriedly put together by Adeniyi and Adeoye to push the dubious agenda of their sponsors, the humiliated governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore and Mr. Segun Akinwusi respectively to blackmail Governor Aregbesola and his government.
“When all their antics against the Aregbesola government failed, Nigerians must recall how these characters procured the services of a High Court Judge to write a petition with all forms of spurious allegations which she equally failed to defend.
“It is on record that when the EFCC and the Osun State House of Assembly invited Justice Folahanmi Oloyede to defend the claims in her petition, she developed cold feet”, the Bureau stated.
The statement added that all the allegations leveled against Aregbesola are the same as those allegations made by Omisore, Akinwusi and Justice Oloyede, noting that it is clear that the motive of these is to set the state on fire by misinforming the people.
Describing the step taken by the EFCC as a welcome development, the Bureau stated, “This is a welcome development as perhaps this will put an end to frivolous activities of the likes of hired groups like this and their cohorts in the trade of making allegations that they cannot substantiate.
“The Osun example in local government funds administration is a study in transparency and accountability. Perhaps, it is only in Osun that the governor introduced Heads of Local Government Administrations, HLAs, to the monthly allocation meetings.
“The HLAs have full knowledge of how much is received and other allied information. A governor with a plan to divert council funds would not bring such a novel addition to the way funds are administered.”
The statement also urged the petitioners to check out Osun’s record of payment of council salaries and pensions and compare those with what obtains in many other states of the federation.
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