Osun APC, Accord trade words over LG funds

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The campaign council of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming Osun State governorship poll, Bola Oyebamiji, has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of withholding documents needed for the payment of salaries of local government staff members.

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The allegations were contained in a statement made available by the Co-Chairman (Print), Media Committee, AMBO Governorship Election Council, Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo on Thursday.

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The committee, which accused Adeleke of inflicting pain and confusion on the state through the “personalisation of the local government administration in the state,” further stated that the governor’s handling of the situation was negatively affecting innocent residents.

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“It is astonishing that a governor could deliberately withdraw all the documents from the local government council areas that could enable the Court of Appeal-reinstated local government council chairmen and councillors to effectively fulfil the payment of the salaries and allowances of government workers at the grassroots level and all other auxiliary staff whose lives depend on the salaries.

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“It is worthwhile to pointedly tell Governor Adeleke that he could only run, but it would be pretty impossible for him to perpetually hide under the constitutional provision of the immunity clause in the extant Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it said.

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The APC campaign council further stated, “Why must Governor Adeleke continue to hold on to the required documents to pay the salaries of local government staff, an act that, in a saner society, is grossly impeachable?”

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Responding, Osun Accord Chairman, Victor Akande, dismissed the allegation, describing it as a “poorly scripted hogwash aimed at diverting public attention from the monumental financial atrocities already perpetrated in the state local government system by APC political actors.”

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Akande further said, “It is both amusing and shameful that individuals who supervised and benefited from the reckless looting of local government resources in Osun State now seek to blackmail the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke with emotional propaganda and empty noise.”

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He insisted that Osun people deserve transparency, responsibility and development, noting that every move to derail the growth of the state would be resisted.

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