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The All Progressives Congress(APC) in Oyo State has described the House of Assembly approval of a N10bn loan sought by Governor Seyi Makinde as “anticipatory looting.”
It would be recalled the State House of Assembly on Tuesday approved the request of the governor to obtain N10bn loan to improve infrastructures in the state.
According to the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin the request was urgently granted because the funds are needed to build good roads and other facilities in order to bring dividends of democracy to the people.
His words: “While we are working on improving our Internally Generated Revenue, through restoring of Oyo State-owned industries, properties and also the investment bill, which is in the pipeline, we have to look at other means where we can get the needed resources to complete ongoing projects and improve our infrastructure.
“As lawmakers, we have taken many steps towards this request. We have had several meetings with the Ministry of Finance, the concern banks and financial consultants.
“The loan would be obtained from First Bank plc, United Bank for Africa and Unity Bank plc respectively.”
But the APC through its Publicity Secretary in the state, Dr. Olatunde Azeez in a phone interview said: “The requested loan is an anticipatory looting, and that is exactly what is playing out now for the State House of Assembly to have approved it. Makinde has accused his predecessor Ajimobi, of leaving a N150bn debt after his eight years in office, which we did not agree with, but now, in less than his two months as governor, Makinde has requested for 10bn naira loan.
“Imagine how many billions he would still borrow as a loan before the expiration of his four-year tenure in office.
“We raised objection when the governor declared his N48billion naira asset, but the PDP said we are crying foul, so we told the world that we are still waiting for the Code of Conduct Bureau to confirm the asset.”
Ogundoyin while defending the loan approval stated that the administration cannot keep complaining about the financial situation of the state but have to take responsibility and move on.
In reply to APC’s criticism, the Chief Press Secretary(CPS) to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, said: “We are not like the APC where the debt profile of Oyo State has doubled during their eight years in government, so what’s left for them to say other than shouting.”
He said that if truly Oyo APC was serious with accountability and probity, the chairman or their spokesman should impress it on officials who served in Ajimobi’s administration to publicly declare their assets like Governor Makinde did, “because there is no law that stops them from doing so.”
He continued: “Let APC first brace itself up to the level of accountability being exhibited by Governor Makinde before we can engage them in discussions on this matter. If Oyo State Government said it needs N10bn for infrastructure, it is an evidence of the run down infrastructure we met on ground on May 29, 2019.”
He however said that the people will see the results in the open administration of Governor Seyi Makinde, adding that “it won’t be like the past administration that awarded N7bn contract to a faceless organisation which immediately bolted after taking N2bn of money belonging to the people of the state.”
The Minority Leader of the Assembly, Asimiyu Alarape, was however not in total agreement with his party as he said on the floor of the house on Tuesday that APC lawmakers in the house agreed with the loan approval because it was important for him and the members to put aside their party differences and support the request for the loan in the interest of bringing development to the state.
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