The Peoples Democratic Party has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of
\ninflating the contract sum of the Moshood Abiola International Airport,
\nIdo Osun, from N4.5bn to N15.5bn.<\/p>\n
The Director of Media and Strategy of the PDP in the state, Mr. Diran
\nOdeyemi, said this in a statement in Osogbo on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The opposition party accused the governor of jerking up the contract sum
\nin order to allegedly embezzle the bailout loan the state got from the
\nCentral Bank of Nigeria while workers in the employ of the state were
\nlanguishing as a result of unpaid salaries.<\/p>\n
The PDP called on President Muhammadu Buhari to beam its searchlight on
\nthe financial activities in Osun State, especially the airport project.<\/p>\n
The statement partly read, \u201cWe are aware that Governor Aregbesola on the
\n8th of January this year through an award letter with reference number
\nSP\/S96\/1\/vi\/348 re-awarded the airport contract to the same contractor
\nand a payment of N472m was paid as take off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same company had earlier been paid N2.7bn for the same project
\nwithout any serious work done on the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are calling on the President and anti-graft agencies to send a secret
\nteam to the site of the so-called Moshood Abiola International Airport,
\nIdo Osun, to confirm what the government and the Air force company had
\ndone with the N2.7bn taken from the purse of the state on the 14th of
\nDecember 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the amount, N2.5bn was sourced as a loan from Sterling Bank repayable
\nmonthly at N100m from Sure-P funds. That loan is now part of the N88bn
\nrestructured for the state by the Central Bank for repayment till the year
\n2034.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest review of the contract is a brazen attempt to misappropriate
\nfunds, including the bailout loan meant to pay hungry civil servants,
\nlecturers and medical doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The PDP accused the governor of running the affairs of the state as a sole
\nadministrator, adding that the re-awarding the contract was in clear
\nviolation of the Public Procurement Act.<\/p>\n
The Consultant on Information to Osun State Government, Mr. Sunday Akere,
\nwhen contacted on the telephone said he was at a very noisy place.<\/p>\n
Although the noise could be heard at the background, Akere had yet to
\nrespond to the text sent to him on the matter as of the time of filing
\nthis report.
\nPUNCH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Peoples Democratic Party has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of inflating the contract sum of the Moshood Abiola International Airport, Ido Osun, from N4.5bn to N15.5bn. The Director of Media…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n