PDP criticises APC for allegedly misusing Osun State’s funds

Ademola Adeleke, the governor of Osun State, has been charged by the All Progressives Congress, or APC, with ruining the state’s economy since he assumed office in November 2022.

The Osun APC also claimed that as a result, the administration is having a very difficult time carrying out some of its legally mandated duties.

In a statement released on Tuesday by the party’s chairman, Tajudeen Lawal, the party said that after dragging the state into the ground, Governor Adeleke had been unsuccessfully searching everywhere for a way out of the current financial mess.

The PDP governor, according to the party, has not been able to account for the monthly allocations from Abuja to the Federal Government, other statutory incomes, or the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) over the past ten months. The party also claimed that Adeleke allegedly wasted the N14 billion left to him by his predecessor on pointless and unjustified projects.

“In all respects, the Adeleke administration is a colossal failure led by a leader wholly blinded by vision and driven entirely by the glitz and perks of holding the office of governor.

“If Adeleke does not lack empathy, he has no justification under the sun for continuing to maintain the Federal Government’s N2 billion gasoline subsidy removal palliative after two months, especially because other states who are fortunate to have compassionate administrations have begun to benefit from the generosity.

Adeleke chose to stockpile the palliative for the people of Osun State for reasons that may only be known to him and his fellow travellers, which is regrettable because other states have been supporting the federal government’s efforts by supplying their own for their citizens.

The party demanded an explanation from Governor Adeleke regarding why his administration is unable to make timely and proper deductions from employee wages as before.

The party made it clear that the newly established ministries had not yet moved into their offices, and that the Commissioners and Special Advisers who are part of them are still conducting business out of their staff housing.

In response, Osun’s Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, asserted that the governor has been responsibly managing the state’s economy and budget.

In response to the APC’s accusations that Governor Adeleke was sucking the state dry, Sunday Bisi, the chairman of the Osun PDP, provided the clarification.

“A Governor who inherited debt of more than N500 billion and is still making salary payments, paying off pension debt, and completing large projects cannot be accused of causing the state to flounder. Such accusations are most frequently made by financially uneducated people.

“The APC government left Osun State in a financial disaster. However, Governor Adeleke continues to make on-time payments of monthly salaries. From the N56 billion in inherited debt, he has already paid over N17 billion. He has agreed to make monthly payments on his debt equal to half of his wages.

“The Osun financial management concept is really reliable. People around the nation are perplexed as to how Governor Adeleke, in spite of his financial obligations, is managing to govern so wisely. The administration’s track record of fiscal responsibility is amazing.

“In saner climes, APC and its unemployed and irate hatchet writer will have long since abandoned partisan politics. They should already be under investigation for wrecking the robust state economy that the APC took over some 12 years ago.