Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has questioned the integrity of Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, following the dismissal by the state House of Assembly of her petition against him and his deputy, Laoye Tomori.
Oloyede had accused the Aregbesola administration, in a petition to the House of Assembly, of mismanaging the state’s resources, plunging it into a state of financial chaos.
The assembly dismissed the petition after its panel on the matter reported that Oloyede failed to substantiate her allegations with any evidence.
While speaking at the birthday party of the Speaker of the assembly, Najeem
Salaam at the weekend, Aregbesola, according to an online news medium, Premium Times, took time to lambast the judge for what he said was a conduct unbecoming of judges.
Aregbesola also took a swipe at journalists for celebrating the petition, as there was no basis for it ab initio.
“I want to say that there was no basis for the petition. Its all lies. A judge that doesn’t know herself as judge. Judges can only be seen and not heard. She (Oloyede) doesn’t have any substance in the judiciary. She lied against me,” Aregbesola stated.
“The journalists should have checked the financial statement of the allocation before writing their stories.
“If it had collected N538billion, Osun would have turned to Dubai. I am happy Buhari went to USA and it was said that one million barrels of crude oil was being stolen everyday.”
The governor said Oloyede accused him of being absent from the state, but the weekly executive meeting register proved otherwise.
“I have never gone on leave since November 2010 when I came into governance. There is no single truth in the judge’s petition,” he said.
“I will tell the side of my story bit by bit. I am confident that before the end of the month the period of hard time will smoke off in the state.”
Meanwhile, bothered by the plight and inability of Aregbesola to pay workers and pensioners’ salaries, both the national and state assemblies’ legislators will today organise a conference aimed at salvaging the state government from the present predicament.
The forum tagged: ‘Osun Stakeholders’ Conference-Our State, Our Stake’, would bring stakeholders from present and past leaders, including religion leaders.
Addressing a press conference at the weekend, members of the House of Representatives from the state led by Mrs. Ayo Omidiran said the aim of the conference is to deliberate on how to liberate the state from the present situation.
According to the legislators, “The state is in dire straits. It is true that our state is going through hard times. Workers and pensioners are owed many months salary and infrastructural development projects have come to a halt.
“The conference is to serve as an avenue to deliberate on the state of our state, interact with all stakeholders including but not limited to all past governors and their deputies, technocrats and artisans, labour unions and non-governmental organisations, traditional rulers and market women.
“The governor will explain in clear terms and plain language during his submission, the what, when, why and how. He will answer all our questions and lay all his cards on the table.”
They however promised to make recommendation that would help the state government, saying: “We shall together, by the grace of God the almighty, proffer lasting solutions to the myriad of problems confronting our dear state, thereby ensuring the continuation and completion of all the laudable people friendly programmes already started by this administration.”
Recalling how Aregbesola was paying salaries including 13 months bonus and sponsoring civil servants for training, the legislators urged the people to fear God and not to be mischievous.
Also, the legislators explained that the conference is different from those that are being held in the state, adding that: “This is not for political party alone.”
(This Day)
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