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Makinde suggests Oyo APC may be ignorant over issues around allegation of fresh N7.6bn loan

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Oyo State governor, Oluseyi Makinde, on Friday clarified a claim by the state’s All Progressive Congress (APC) that a fresh loan of N7.6bn had been approved for him by the state House of Assembly.

The APC had earlier raised the alarm that a loan of N7.6 billion was expressly approved by the state House to the governor for execution of two farm projects in Ido/Ibarapa East Federal Constituency of the state.

In a statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Prince Ayobami Adejumo, APC said “The current governor has demonstrated his resolve to drag Oyo State backward by many years within the shortest period of time, we have again been made to see the need for the concerned citizens to beam their searchlight on the PDP administration of Engr. Seyi Makinde as financial indiscipline is now the order of the day in the business of government.

“The latest N7.6 billion loan, as announced, by the state legislature was different from the N10 billion obtained three months ago even as tongues are already wagging on what has become of the whopping over N17b billion which came into the state government treasury in the month of June alone. Apart from the statutory payment of salaries to government workers, nothing concrete has been done by the PDP government since May 29, 2019.

But Governor Makinde in his reaction to APC, debunked the insinuations, saying they were far from the truth.

Read also: ADAMAWA: Tribunal affirms Gov Fintiri’s election victory

He explained that the N7.6bn loan claimed by APC was borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for “agricultural equipment” by the immediate past administration led by Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

Speaking in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary Mr. Taiwo Adisa, Makinde said he, in May 2019 when he was still governor-elect, moved to “prevent the misappropriation of the funds by approaching the Oyo State High Court in Ibadan to get an injunction to restrain the Ajimobi-led administration from accessing and spending the loan few days to the end of the tenure”.

He expatiated further that contrary to insinuations that he obtained a fresh N7.6 billion loan after an initial approval for N10 billion loan facilities for infrastructure development, he stated that the N7.6 billion loan had already been approved by the CBN before he resumed office.

He added that, “the apex bank had begun to deduct the money from Oyo State’s Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations from source to repay the loan”.

Makinde also averred that his administration had only approached the House of Assembly to seek approval to change the purpose of the loan facility so that it could be put to better use in developing farm estates in Eruwa and Akufo farm settlements in the state in a pilot scheme that wouldbe used as a model for the state-wide farm estate initiative of the administration.

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