Former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has slammed his successor, ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, for dragging him into crisis concerning the humongous debt portfolio in the state.
Aregbesola’s assertion was on the backdrop of the recent revelation by the incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke in a meeting with traditional rulers, claiming his predecessor left behind N407.32 billion as debt in the state.
In a reaction to the claim, Oyetola through his former commissioner of finance, Bola Oyebamiji, indicted Aregbesola’s administration, saying it incurred the debt through its loan between 2013–2017.However, Aregbesola, whose relationship with Oyetola had fallen apart leading to the victory of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, blamed Oyetola’s administration for the debt portfolio in the state.In a statement issued by Aregbesola’s media aide, Sola Fasure on Saturday, the Minister of Interior faulted Oyetola for being arrogant towards the incumbent Governor when he was supposed to cooperate with him.
He predicted problems for Oyetola should the current administration decide to approach the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over the issue.
The statement read: “They caused the problem for themselves. If they had set up a transition committee and if they had cooperated well with the incoming governor after they had lost the election, there would have been a smooth change of government.
They would have compared notes and there would be no rancour. But he was busy sowing mines on the path of the incoming governor, creating problems for him, and spending money with reckless abandon. What did he do with N18bn? Now, the new government is fighting back. If the new government takes the matter up to the EFCC, there would be problems for the Oyetola administration.
“They should count Aregbesola out of their problems because out of the three loans he took, two have been liquidated. It is only the long-term debt that is remaining and only the Accountant-General can give us the status of the loan because it is no longer what it was because deductions are being made.”
