The immediate past Governor of Oyo state, Abiola Ajimobi yesterday said the alleged reference to about N150 billion debt he left behind by the incumbent administration is needless mudslinging.
Querying the hullabaloo about the matter Ajimobi said the state was not among the first 10 states in the list published by Debt Management Office, Abuja.
The former governor who fielded questions from journalists at his Oluyole Ibadan residence, after Eid-el-kabir prayer at Liberty Stadium now Obafemi Awolowo stadium, stressed that “if you look at the debts owed by each state in the country as published by DMO, you will see that Oyo State is not even among the first 10 states.
Governor Seyi Makinde had alleged that Ajimobi administration left a debt of N150 billion, a development which has made ‘Oyo state to be insolvent.’
According to Ajimobi, United States is the number one debtor in the world. Government by nature and establishment must continue to have debt. They must be able to use people’s money to make money.
While saying that 50 percent of the debt owed by his administration was drawdown debt from the World Bank, he posited that less than 30 percent of it had been accessed.
“As we do the work, World Bank comes to verify and pay. We still have about 70 percent of it, so this administration can stop taking it if they don’t want it.” he added.
On allegations that his aides carted away official vehicles, Ajimobi said they paid for the vehicles based on decision taken by the government saying there are papers written on it.
While urging the incumbent administration to beam its searchlight on civil servants on those vehicle alleged to have been recovered from mechanic workshops he said “when you are in government, there are policies and decisions to be taken. We took the decision that anybody using vehicles at the time should take it away and pay. This is also practiced by the federal and other state governments”.
Ajimobi said “when I resumed in 2011, I didn’t see any vehicle. My brother, former Gov. Adebayo Alao-Akala took his vehicles away and I did not talk.
He alleged that there were no cotton, furniture chairs and electronic equipments in the government house when he moved into it, saying it was because Alao-Akala left government few days before his resumption.
On his part ,Ajimobi said that everything at the government house and office were intact because he worked till the last day of his administration.
On insecurity, the former governor described Makinde as very lucky because of the already existing security structure bequeathed to him by his administration.
He called on Makinde to leverage on the many good things his administration did, urging him to make amends where the made mistakes.
“We thank God that he has started seeing some of the good things we did. No government in the state has ever done as much as we have done. This does not mean we did not make mistakes,” he said.
The former governor prayed that Makinde succeeds, adding that the people stood to gain nothing from his failure.
“I pray that Makinde succeeds and I will support him to succeed anytime. In supporting him, we are helping the state,” he said.
He however appealed to aggrieved members of APC to reconcile for the good of the party, saying his only regret was trying to be perfect in an imperfect world.
“There are many of our members who genuinely have reasons to be angry but 90 percent of those angry have no reasons except that they were not appointed.
“Those I believe have genuine reasons to be angry, I have spoken to them. Some, I will not speak to them, they must come back,” he said.
REMI FEYISIPO,Ibadan.
