The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has raised concerns over the prerogative of mercy granted by Governor Ademola Adeleke to a police officer, Amien George standing trial for alleged arms running.
The party also challenged Governor Adeleke to disclose the true financial records of the state in the interest of the ‘suffering masses” whose resources were allegedly siphoned and skewed for personal aggrandizement.
The APC made this call on Monday in Osogbo at a press briefing marking the end of the year 2024.
The party decried the amnesty recently granted to the 53 prisoners by the Adeleke’s government saying it is suspicious, explaining the government is poised to pollute the state with criminals who would later return to their ‘vomit’.
“Why would a government grant pardon to someone facing trial over alleged gun running? If not that they are planning to use the accused for some political reasons. We’re really at the lowest of it in Osun State. The present government has even made the judiciary to start explaining itself, which has never happened before.” Kehinde Ayantunji, a member of the party said.
Speaking on the financial status of Osun, the Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi accused the state government for secretly signing and obtaining a combined foreign loans of $51 million, N81.6 billion equivalent, using the exchange rate of N1,600 to 1$USD.
Olabisi maintained that the current administration is on the verge of putting the future of the state into a deep financial mess, hence the need for the people of the state to rise to the occasion and hold the Adeleke’s government accountable for the palpable financial recklessness.
According to APC, the impression that the Adeleke’s administration has not obtained any loans since inception is a lie from the pit of hell as part of the state’s 2024 budget is being financed from the NG-CARES facility.
“In our previous addresses, we maintained that the Senator Ademola Adeleke-led government, in 2023, secretly obtained loans in the region of N10 billion. The 2023 audited financial statement attested to that fact in pages 60 and 61 of the document as it reveals the domestic debt profile of the state increased to N55.3 billion in 2023 from N46.8 billion the current administration met it in 2022.
“Information obtained from the Federal Ministry of Finance indicates that Osun State has accessed the sum of $20 million of N-CARES, equivalent of N32 billion.
“Ordinarily, the first phase of the NG-CARES ended in June 2024, however, the Osun State governor, we are aware, has been misled to go for the second phase of the programme. Therefore, the state has signed all relevant documents to signify her intention to participate in the second phase of the NG-CARES programme. It is called NG-CARES additional financing. The Naira equivalent of the loan is N24 billion and the disbursement of this facility is scheduled for any moment from now. In total, the state will obtain the sum of $35 million (equivalent of N56 billion) on the NG -CARES facility.
“Someone will feel sorry for Osun when realizing how the first batch of the NG-CARES loan is being expended by the state government. The impression that the administration has not obtained any loans since inception is a lie from the pit of hell. Part of the state’s 2024 budget is being financed from the NG-CARES facility.
“The people of Osun, particularly the intelligentsia, must task the government to disclose the true financial situation of the state. The people should not be kept in the dark while the government ram them into eternal debt”, Olabisi espoused.
Corroborating the party’s position on the palpable insensitivity on the part of government on the state of education, the former Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Alhaji Jamiu Olawumi lambasted the state government for haphazardly handling the education sector.
“In the year, we also exposed the government for paying lip service to education in the state. This development has made many state institutions to rely on exorbitant school fees to source for revenues to run their schools. For instance, the state government only supported the newly established state university in Ilesa with a measly N60 million subvention from January to September 2024 as the whole funding for the period came from students’ school fees.
“The law students who are charged N1.5 million per session and nursing students N1.2 million are the ones running the university. How many civil servants can send their children to UNILESA considering the poor remuneration of the workers and cut-throat school fees in the institution?
“Universities all over the world are funded through government subventions, private endowments and corporate sponsorship, not through arbitrary high school fees as it has become the order of the day in UNILESA and other tertiary institutions in the state.”
Governor’s Spokesperson reacts
Reacting to the allegations by the opposition Party, the spokesperson to the governor, Olawale Rasheed, dismissed the claims, asserting that the governor followed due process in granting pardons.
Rasheed clarified, “The governor does not unilaterally grant pardons. The State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy was duly established and reviewed each case meticulously over several days before arriving at 53 deserving cases.”
Criticising the APC’s selective outrage, Rasheed added, “If they believe an error occurred, they can file a petition. The governor exercised his power within the confines of the law. Picking one case out of 53 reeks of mischief.”
On the loan allegations, Rasheed categorically denied that Osun State had acquired foreign loans under NG-CARES.
“As a member of the executive council from the onset, I can affirm that no loan approval request has been made for any project.
“This is fake news, which the APC has continuously peddled. Osun people are discerning and educated—they know when their government is borrowing,” he said.
