By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Osun State Government has dismissed claims from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) that governor Ademola Adeleke, took N10 billion loan to implement current infrastructure programmes across the state.

Reacting on the interview granted by a chieftain of APC, Spokesperson to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, also denied the fake news that the state government spent N18b on the renovation of the Government House.

The statement Issued this Tuesday afternoon reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to an interview granted by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in which he again repeated his lies about the Osun State Government having taken a loan of Ten Billion Naira to implement current infrastructure programmes across the state.

“We equally rejected fake news that the state government spent 18 billion naira on the renovation of the Government House.

“It is a figment of imagination of failed men of yesterday. Rather than sponsoring falsehood, we urge the APC to accept it failed while it governed Osun state and it should be brave enough to commend the present government for succeeding where it recorded mass failure.

“We affirm once again that the current government has not taken any loan since inception to pursue any programme or project.

‘The man who granted the interview on one innocuous Youtube channel lied and acted as a purveyor of fake news.

“The interview which was full of concoction of unfounded assertions and deliberate falsehood is another example of barefaced misrepresentation embarked upon by the opposition without shame and sense of guilt.

“This is another open example of cyberbullying among many others for which the opposition operatives should be censored.

Rasheed stated that Governor Adeleke had told the public clearly on several occasions that he is not borrowing to pursue the infrastructure projects.

According to the statement, rather Governor Adeleke explained that his administration’s strategy was to block leakages, expand earnings and save for projects by opening a project account dedicated to the financing of the projects.

“The project in question is a multi-billion-naira expenditure spread over time designed to bridge the huge infrastructure deficit the Governor inherited from the Oyetola administration.

“Yesterday, today or tomorrow, no loan is contemplated as the Governor has a sustainable investment and implementation plan within the confines of state resources.

“Today, Osun APC is in pain because the state is a huge construction site. That positive development on the infrastructure and social investment is an example of committed leadership that is passionate about lifting the state out of under-development.

“Governor Adeleke is manifesting as a living example of good governance in theory and practice. Governor Adeleke restated his commitment to implementing the infrastructure projects without loans as a way of drawing investors to Osun and boosting the local economy in line with the administration’s five-point agenda.

“He also emphasized his insistence on due process, transparency and accountability in the governance process,” Rasheed said in the statement.

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