AREGBESOLA DENIES SLAPPING HIS DEPUTY

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has denied slapping his deputy, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, insisting that the rumour was nothing but falsehood aimed at causing disaffection and capable of destabilising the state.

The governor also denied awarding, to his son, Kabir, N8.6 billion contract of the recently launched e-learning tool for senior secondary school students in public schools in the state.

Aregbesola, who spoke at the weekend during a seven-hour live interactive session, tagged “Ogbeni till day break”, further denied that the state is insolvent, adding that the Debt Management Office (DMO) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not rank the state as among the indebted states in the country.

He said: “I have never beaten anybody in my life. In fact, I don’t beat my children, let alone beating any other person. More so, the Deputy Governor is older than me, so how do I beat an elderly person.

“I don’t have any quarrel with my deputy and I can’t have any with her because I intentionally chose her and no one chose her for me. I think I can work with her and that is why I chose her. So, no differences exist between us.”

Aregbesola, who expressed worry over the rumour, described it as figment of imagination of the detractors of his government and those he called enemies of progress.

To buttress the governor’s claim, the Deputy Governor, who was also present at the programme, said that cordial relationship exist between her and the Governor, adding that she would remain loyal to him.

He also denied the allegation that the state government awarded the contract of e-learning tool otherwise called Opon-Imo to his son, Kabir, saying his son only contributed in the design along with some other personalities and consulting firm hired for the purpose.

Governor Aregbesola further denied insinuation that the debt profile of the state has risen to N300 billion, saying that the opposition party was only making the allegation to destabilise the progress of the state and cause confusion.

According to him, the monthly allocation accrued to the state from the federation account and the internally generated revenue of the state could not cater for the development going on in the state, hence the resolve of his government to take loans and bond from financial institutions.

He said: “there is nowhere in the world where borrowing or taking loan is a taboo. Advanced nations of the world even borrow money to execute projects. Any government that wants to succeed may need to borrow for projects execution.”

Source: Daily Independent