Aregbesola pacifies workers, says Osun did not get N84bn bail out

The Osun State Government has debunked the statement by Senator Dino Melaye, saying no N84bn was credited into its account by the Federal Government.

Melaye, who is the Chairman Senate Committee on FCT, had alleged that Osun State got N84bn for the payment of outstanding salaries.

Recall that workers in the state had earlier vowed to engage in confrontation with the government if they found  Melaye’s statement to be true.

But Governor Rauf Aregbesola in a statement through the Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, described Melaye’s statement “a blantant lie”.

The governor accused Melaye of planning to throw the country and Osun State into unnecessary turmoil .‎

The governor specifically said that there was nothing like an N84bn paid to Osun out of “an imaginary $4bn being over-deductions on Paris and London Club Loans on the accounts of State and Local Governments from February 1990 to March 2002”.

The statement read in part, “It sounds warped that such information would emanate from an interloper to Nigerians. Should Nigeria receive such funds and such huge amounts are to be credited to respective states, simple logic dictates that the Ministry of  Finance, the Ministry of Information or the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation would be duly involved and communicate such a development to Nigerians through the appropriate quarters.

“It is curious that since the misinformation was released and credited to a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Dino Melaye, who was reported to have manufactured the misinformation has not come out to deny making the statement.

“Much more curious also is the direct reference to the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who was singled out and asked to pay his state workers from the non-existent N84bn.

“We consider this as a direct incitement of the people of Osun and especially the workers who have shown great understanding due to the transparency the governor has brought into his handling of the affairs of the state.”