Ekiti State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gboyega Oguntuase, on Sunday alleged that the huge debts allegedly incurred by the Kayode Fayemi administration from 2010 to 2014 has so far cost the state N35.34 billion in servicing of the debts and deductions from statutory allocations from October 2014 till date.

But reacting, Fayemi’s aide, Wole Olujobi has denied the allegation, insisting that it is baseless and unfounded.

In a statement by Oguntuase in Ado Ekiti, he said: “The state is servicing the debts with an average of N1.1 billion monthly, adding that it also means about 40 percent of the state’s allocation is deducted from source monthly.”

The PDP boss said documents from the Debts Management Office and the Federal Ministry of Finance, agencies in charge of the debts and statutory allocations, revealed that the debts were incurred under several headings.

He added that between October and December 2014, the state’s allocations had N1.71 billion deducted to service the debts.

His words: “In 2015, the sun of N7.85 billion was deducted from our allocations. In 2016, it was N11.30 billion, in 2017, it was N12.12 billion and from January to May this year, the sum of N4.94 billion has been deducted.

”While we have paid off the commercial agriculture credit scheme, we are yet to pay off others and some will run till 2036. The implications of this are many. If we had such a huge sum, we wouldn’t be owing workers’ salaries and more welfare programmes and projects would have been executed by the Ayodele Fayose administration.

“The debts are under these headings: Contractual obligations, fertiliser, foreign loans, bond, commercial agriculture credit scheme, water project, restructuring of bank loans, excess crude loan among others. For instance, under contractual obligations is the vehicles and buses they purchased for traditional rulers and various groups that they did not pay a kobo before leaving office.

” Under commercial agriculture credit scheme is their YCAD programme that failed woefully. They also took money for the rehabilitation of water scheme and the money they borrowed for Ero Dam rehabilitation just went down the drain.

“We all know the N25 billion they borrowed from the Capital Market to finance some projects, but where are the projects? They never built any Governor’s Office. They did not build a new Ojaba Market, they did not complete their event centre. Even the state pavilion was not fully completed,” he said.

Oguntuase urged the people of the state to reject Fayemi and the All Progressives Congress in the coming governorship election and vote Prof Kolapo Olusola of the PDP.

“Don’t let Fayemi hoodwink you. He is the reason Ekiti State is under financial burden. He plunged the state into debts and can’t point to any tangible project he executed while in office. His administration also got the highest revenues from the Federation Account in the history of the state,” he noted.

He also said members of the public could get the details of the debts on the websites of the DMO and the Federal Ministry of Finance and in their offices.

Reacting further, Olujobi, who alleged that Governor Fayose has also borrowed N56 billion and has been servicing the debts also, said: “It is ridiculous for Fayose and his aides to still be peddling inaccurate debts figures after the Debts Management Office published the debts taken by Fayose alone in the last three years totalling N56 billion even though he swore and lied many times that he never borrowed one kobo.

”Again, we admit that Fayemi borrowed N25b to be defrayed within seven years and records are there in the Debts Management Office that Fayemi paid back N14.5b of the debts, leaving the balance of N10.5b before he left office on October 16, 2014.

”All the projects that benefitted from the bond are verifiable. They are the roads constructed across the state, schools and hospital rehabilitation, world standard Ikogosi Resort that has again been looted, Ire Burnt Bricks Company, water projects, new Government House, Pavilion, Civil Centre that Fayose has abandoned, among several others.

”If the official debt figure were as stated above, how did they come about N35.34b to service the debt of N10.5b?

”It is regrettable that after Fayose misapplied the state’s funds to satisfy himself, he is now looking for a scapegoat in election period to fraudulently shift the blame on innocent Fayemi for undeserved political capital.

”All the debts that will not allow Ekiti people and workers in particular to have their daily bread and live decent life were secretly taken by Fayose but would deny publicly that he ever took these loans.

”He took N2b CBN loan for small-scale businesses but he never disbursed one kobo to the targeted beneficiaries.

“He took N2b Ecological Fund cash but for several months, he swore repeatedly publicly that he never took the money. He only owned up taking the money when APC was about approaching Ecological Fund with the Freedom of Information law to get the fact of the matter. Curiously, the very week he admitted taking the money, he announced Ecological project contract that cost exactly N2b, but up till now, there is no evidence of any ecological project anywhere in the state as could be seen in flood disasters that ravaged the state.

“Fayose was secretly collecting N1.3b Budget Support Fund for 14 months to pay salary without telling workers that he was collecting the money on their behalf to pay salary. He diverted all to self-serving projects, leaving workers without salaries for between six and 10 months, including failure to pay pensioners.

”Now after all these atrocities, Fayose is now deploying his aides in reckless lies against Fayemi for electoral advantage. Fact is that Ekiti people know the truth that they have been in the hands of a crooked administration since October 16, 2014.

”Another chance to have a disciplined and honest leader is coming on July 14 and there is no lie and blackmail that can take Ekiti people hostage again because they have known the man who loves them and the one that lies recklessly to single-handedly corner the state’s resources while 2.7m Ekiti people suffer,” Olujobi alleged. Daily Sun)

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