TheCable

Ismail Omipidan, former chief press secretary to Gboyega Oyetola, immediate past governor of Osun , says his principal did not take any loan during his tenure.

Speaking on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television, Omipidan said his principal inherited debt from the administration of Rauf Aregbesola.

Aregbesola was the governor of Osun between 2010 and 2018, after which he was succeeded by Oyetola.

Oyetola lost his bid to seek re-election and Ademola Adeleke was sworn in as Osun governor in November.

Earlier on Thursday, Adeleke said his predecessor took an N18 billion loan after the July governorship election in the state, adding that Osun is indebted to the tune of N407.32 billion.

Adeleke said Oyetola must explain why the state is owing N76 billion in salaries and pensions despite receiving a N50 billion salary bailout from the federal government.

Reacting to Adeleke’s comment, Omipidan said his principal’s administration paid the sum of N97 billion from the debt inherited from the Aregbesola administration.

“They only listed when those debts will be liquidated, but they did not list when they were procured,” he said.

“At least, if you have the date when a debt would lapse, you should have the date of when it was procured.

“I’m very sure that they did that deliberately to cover their lies, because if they had provided the date where these debts were sourced, it would have been very clear that none was sourced under Gboyega Oyetola for the four years he spent.

“I make bold to say that for the four years we ran Osun state, we did not take any loan facility and these facts are in public domain.

“Is it possible to take a loan without going through the house of assembly? The house of assembly members are there, the speaker is still there, they are all alive so you can cross-check this fact from them.

“The debts they were reeling out were the debts we also inherited from Aregbesola administration, from where we even paid N97 billion.”

Also speaking during the programme, Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to Adeleke, said another $100 million debt was discovered after the governor’s meeting with traditional rulers on Thursday.

Rasheed said the data on Osun debts was released by the accountant-general of the state, who he said was appointed by Oyetola.

The spokesperson added that the state treasury is currently “empty” after the payment of November salary to workers.

“We came into government without handing over notes, without anybody giving us a statement of account,” he said.

“We called the accountant-general of the state to give us the liabilities and the assets of the state.

“Mind you, this accountant worked with Oyetola for four years; he is not our appointee.”