Petition Against Governor Aregbesola

The House of Assembly has already asked the Osun state governor Aregbesola to produce his defence as early as possible.
The speaker revealed this during an interaction with members of the press and said “I can confirm that the assembly received the petition. But, there is an ongoing strike now therefore we cannot do anything serious on it.” 

Osun House of Assembly Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, yesterday confirmed the receipt of a copy of the petition written by a serving female judge in Osun state, Justice Folahanmi Oloyede accusing Aregbesola of mismanaging the state.

According to Salaam, “a copy of the petition had been sent to Governor Aregbesola for him to state his own defence.”

Justice Oloyede had demanded the state House of Assembly probe the Aregbesola led administration, especially his management of the financial sector. 

The 30 page petition also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Amnesty International, Transparency International, among others to probe into the dealings of the governor. 

The petition read in part: “I declare that in addition to the media-hype of Osun’s parlous financial condition, I have first-hand experience which constitutes evidence of the unfortunate situation in which Osun currently finds itself. Even Mr Governor has admitted publicly the fact that Osun is in financial quagmire and that he is clueless on how to pull it out of the doldrums.

“Mr Governor’s argument that salaries can only be paid from statutory allocations is also faulty, we demand that he substantiate his claim by giving the section of the law that so provides. In any event, all funds, all allocations and all expenditures are expected to be backed by legislation, and are statutory, otherwise, they are illegal.

“Consequently, the admitted inability of Mr Governor and his deputy to pay pensions, salaries and allowances for periods ranging from eight to 11 months now, as a consequence of their own decision to accumulate debts beyond the capacity of the state internally generated revenue, whilst the very ‘actors’ Mr Governor and his deputy continue to enjoy their security allowances in hundreds of millions, is a violation of their oaths of office.”

Aregbesola had recently been involved in a war of words with Senator Ben Murray Bruce over the same issue of non-payment of Osun workers.