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| Mimiko |
The All Progressives Congress in Ondo
State has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to
probe the administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
Specifically, the party asked the EFCC to assess how the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission was being run.
The APC in a statement by its Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Abayomi Adesanya, said the call had become necessary due
to the shocking revelation by the immediate past Minister of Finance,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that Ondo State received N81.7 billion from the
Excess Crude Account between 2011 and 2014.
The APC also called on the EFCC to
investigate the manner in which local government funds and the 13 per
cent oil derivation funds for the oil producing area of the state were
spent.
The
party lamented that the average indigene of Ondo State could not
establish a link between this huge amount and the level of development
in the state. It said Ondo State had no business wallowing in debt due
to the billions of naira received from the Federal Government monthly.
The party said even though some states
owed workers salaries, some of them have impacted the lives of the
people with developmental projects and other interventions but Ondo
State had no excuse for incurring debts.
The statement read, “With no meaningful
capital project in place, especially since his assumption of office for a
second term, the Mimiko administration has dragged the state into
bankruptcy and brought it to a halt.
“While we acknowledge the challenges
posed by the bad economic situation in the nation occasioned by the
economic mismanagement of the immediate past Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP
government at the centre, we are also sad that unlike other states, Ondo
State cannot justify the huge amount borrowed and generated with any
developmental project.”
However, the Ondo State Commissioner for
Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, described Ondo APC as a party of
misinformed individuals.
Akinmade said OSOPADEC was being managed in a transparent manner and the House of Assembly periodically scrutinised its budget.
He said, “They are just displaying sheer
ignorance of the affairs of the state. Opposition politics is not about
just opening one’s mouth to make baseless accusations. It was the
administration of the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati that set up
OSOPADEC and it is transparent. The House of Assembly always monitors
its budget.
“The state government has done so many
roads and projects. We are building schools and roads that will connect
the coastal areas to other parts of the state. We are also building
hospitals.
“If a party is ignorant of all these, it shows how shallow they are.”
Source: Punchng
