An Osun civil group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), says it has uncovered plan by the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola to divert the second tranche of Paris Club refund second of N12.7 billion accrued to the state into the funding of forthcoming Osun West Senatorial by-election.
The election, which is slated to hold on July 8, 2017, was fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) replace the vacuum created by the death of late Senator Isiaka Adeleke.
At least, three parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), have propped up candidates to jostle for the seat. While the APC picked a former senator, Mudashiru Hussein as its flagbearer, the PDP settled for Demola Adeleke, a younger brother to the deceased senator.
The candidate of SDP, Bade Falade, is rumoured to have stepped down is aspiration, as the crisis rocking the leadership of the PDP, from which he broke away, may have been resolved.
But as preparation for the election gathers momentum, CSCEOS in a statement by its chairman, Comrade Alimi Sulaiman, on Sunday, disclosed plans by Mr. Aregbesola to use half of the Paris Club loan refund to fund the election bid of his party flagbearer, Mr. Hussein, while the remaining half of the funds is being lodged in a fixed deposit account operated by the state government till after bye-election.
This, he said, was why Mr. Aregbesola has been silent on the actual amount remitted to the state out of the N516.38billion disbursed to the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory nor how it planned to utilised the fund.
Mr. Sulaiman, who gave some insights on how the ‘diverted’ fund will be utilised, said the sum of N75 million was disbursed to Alimosho local government area of Lagos State at the weekend for sharing among the thousands of All Progressives Congress (APC) faithful that volunteers to be party agents during the forthcoming bye-election in the state.
The volunteers, he added, have also agreed to transfer their voters card from Lagos to Osun State during the ongoing continuous voters registration (CVR) exercise, as part of scheme to compromise the outcome of the 2018 governorship election in the State.
Pointing out plots by the governor to manipulate the by-election to favour his party’s candidate, Mr. Hussein, the human rights activist detailed an unholy relationship between Mr. Aregbesola and a former Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in the state who hailed from Lagos state, who he said was paid N55 million to bribe electoral officers to compromise the election.
“Instead of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola to use the newly received N12.7 billion London-Paris Club refunds loan from the Federal government to offset the backlog of salaries and pensions arrears of 12 to 13 months, Aregbesola had concluded arrangement to shortchange the Civil servants and pensioners of the State by paying them just only two months while the State government would leave 10 to 11 months salaries and pensions arrears unpaid,” the statement noted.
“Aregbesola is callous, selfish, heartless, wicked, tyrannical, merciless, cruel, brutal and inhuman for leaving the workers and pensioners to be wallowing in abject poverty and you will note that Aregbesola has been silent on the issue of Paris Club refunds to the State unlike other States of the federation.
“This is high time for every discerning people of the State to demand from Aregbesola to use the Paris Refunds loan to clear the backlog of workers and pensions due with gratuities before the conduct of July 8th, 2017 Osun West Senatorial district bye-election”.
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