You’re Engaging In A Self-destructive Drama Of Verbal War – Osun Government Replies Former Finance Commissioner

Kingsley Omoyeni

The Osun State Government has said it will not be distracted by the mischief and lies of former Commissioner for Finance, Wale Bolorunduro, but remains commited to its core mandate of ensuring the security and welfare of every resident of the State.

Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji stated this through a press statement in response to an earlier publication by the former Commissioner.

The Commissioner said it is unfortunate that Bolorunduro has decided to engage in a self-destructive drama of verbal war all in a bid to delibrately distract the government away from it’s core mandate to the people.

Mr Oyebamiji said the write-up is full of unsubstantiated lies with regards to the loan repayment figures of the State laced with an attempt to emotively pitch the current government against the last one by saying projects initiated by the last government have been abandoned.

Oyebamiji’s full statement reads, “My attention has been called, yet again, to the needless and ill-motivated vituperation from Wale Bolorunduro, the immediate past Commissioner for Finance in Osun. It is needless because, it was a feeble attempt to draw the current government into the arena of a self-destructive drama of verbal war, the hallmark of the splinter group in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to which Bolorunduro belongs. It is equally ill-motivated considering the prevailing political calculations within the State. Since the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was concluded, in which His Excellency, Governor Gboyega Oyetola emerged as the candidate of our party, attempts are been made to distract the current government from her core mandate; the security and welfare of the good people of Osun. Unfortunately, a million dramatic series of lies from Dr Bolorunduro will not distract us; we remain committed as a government.

“To the unsubstantiated lies presented by Bolorunduro with regards to the loan repayment figures of the State laced with an attempt to emotively pitch the current government against the last government, to the effect that projects initiated by the last government have been abandoned and the untidy accusation of a cover-up of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) figures, below are my responses.

“Firstly, government is a continuum and the current government, based on her financial capacity, has continued to drive many programmes and projects inherited from the last government with a touch of restructuring and improved capacity. For instance, the Oba Adesoji Aderemi road project has moved beyond where it was in 2018 to about 75% completion; the Gbogan-Akoda road has been pushed to 40% completion; the Osogbo-Ila-Odo road is progressing well (up to 60% completion); the Ilesa-Iperindo-Ipetu-Ijesa road project now stood at close to 65% completion among others. Also, legacy programmes such as the OMEAL (the school feeding programme), O-Ambulance (the ambulatory services programme), OYES (the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme) and many others have been reinvigorated to the satisfaction of the good people of Osun as demonstrated by their continued support to the current Governor. Therefore, the unsubstantiated claim of project or programme abandonment falls flat on its face. This outright falsehood has not yielded any gain to its purveyors in the past, and it will certainly not this time.

“Secondly, to trivialize the volatile nature of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the State and the statutory revenues from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in a period of the global crisis is to be clever by half. The Audited Financial Statement of the State is a good source of information regarding this. Therefore, anyone in doubt can access the available information at will. To wrongly accuse the State Government, led by a party you belong, of cover-up is simply irresponsible and infantile. Our IGR figures have always been in the public domain and we will not be ashamed to call the figures in a period of uncertainty. Our last Net Statutory Revenue Allocation from the FAAC which unsettled many indigenes of Osun and sympathizers, expectedly so, stood at -379,914,981.09 (excluding VAT) after the direct monthly deductions of =N=1.8billion were made. I challenge Bolorunduro to controvert this figure with verifiable evidence, if he has any, within the next 72hours.

“Thirdly, let me say again for the umpteenth time that the current administration led by His Excellency, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, has not approached any financial entity for any facility since 2018 till date. The Governor, right from November 2018, has sustained his focus on priority spending; critical expenditures of government are been funded based on available resources. Consequently, Bolorunduro’s search for non-existent fresh loan deductions, to satisfy his biased position as a possible explanation for the negative receipt from Net Statutory Revenue Allocation from FAAC in January 2022, is laughable. Our debt figures are in the open. The Debt Management Office (DMO), Osun makes adequate monthly returns to the Debt Management Office, Abuja as a matter of duty. The DMO, Abuja and the relevant offices in Osun are available to clear any genuine doubt, regarding our debt figures, which may be agitating the minds of Bolorunduro.

“In the light of the above, I sincerely call on the former Commissioner for Finance, Wale Bolorunduro to be honourable in his new role as opposition within. Much as we welcome a dissenting voice on matters of governance, Governor Gboyega Oyetola deserves to be commended and supported for his forthrightness, dedication, and unparalleled transparency in the administration of the State at this critical time”. The Commissioner stated.