The All Progressives Congress in Osun State, on Monday, accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of dragging the state into financial mess through alleged debilitating debts and wastefulness....Read Full Article >>➤
The party further alleged the governor of secretly taking loans for the state and also pardoning criminals ahead of the 2026 governorship election in the state.
While the APC claimed that the several billions of naira that Adeleke has obtained in loans might be diverted into election campaigns, the party added that there are possibilities that the criminals being pardoned and released from prisons would be used as thugs during the forthcoming gubernatorial polls.
Addressing a press conference in Osogbo on what it described as parlous state of Adeleke’s administration, the opposition party in the state alleged that the incumbent government has been secretly obtaining loans running into several billions of naira, adding that Adeleke was planning to use the loans in financing his second term bid.
While addressing journalists on Monday, APC’s Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, accused Adeleke of lavishing the scarce resources of the state by “prioritising his personal comfort and that of other unproductive politicians around him.”
He challenged Governor Adeleke to disclose the true financial records of the state “in the interest of the suffering masses whose resources were allegedly siphoned and skewed for personal aggrandizement.”
Olabisi accused the state government of secretly signing and obtaining a combined foreign loan of $51 million, N81.6 billion equivalent, using the exchange rate of N1,600/$.
Olabisi said, “In our previous addresses, we maintained that the Senator Ademola Adeleke-led government, in 2023, secretly obtained loans in the region of N10 billion. The 2023 audited financial statement attested to that fact on pages 60 and 61 of the document as it reveals the domestic debt profile of the state increased to N55.3 billion in 2023 from N46.8 billion the current administration met in 2022.
“A further study of the document indicates that a new Finance Lease loan of N4.2 billion was obtained in 2023, just as the existing domestic debt of N705.6 million for the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security went to N2.9 billion.
A N280.8 million debt previously written against the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Affairs also rose to N1.4 billion in 2023, in addition to the debt of the Ministry of Youths and Sports which leaped to N1.02 billion from N161.7 million. The summation of the additional loans to the above three ministries in 2023 was N3.92 billion.
“While the administration continues in its hide-and-seek, tongues are beginning to wag while a state government which devoted N19.2 billion for the Office of the Governor in 2023, N19.3 billion in the first nine months of 2024 and has also earmarked N38 billion for same office in the 2025 budget, would obtain loans to execute its projects.
“As if that was not enough, the state has also failed to address the concern that it secretly signed a $16 million foreign loan facility, an equivalent of N26.6 billion, to fund “Nigeria for Women Project.” The loan facility, reportedly signed by the state Commissioner for Finance and witnessed by state Accountant-General, is set to be disbursed early next year.
“The lack of transparency surrounding the project has fueled speculation that the loan, which will be repaid for 30 years, may be diverted for the 2026 governorship election.”
He flayed Adeleke for granting convicted criminals pardon, accusing the governor of plans to make use of the released criminals to rig election during the forthcoming election in the state.
Olabisi claimed that one of 53 released prisoners named Amein George, a police officer facing criminal and murder charges at a Magistrate Court in Ilesa, had not been convicted, wondering why Adeleke could release an inmate that is still undergoing trial.
He alleged that Adeleke has been bastardising education by refusing to recruit teachers after sacking the 1,500 teachers employed by his predecessor.
“The current administration in Osun is on the verge of putting the future of Osun State into a deep financial mess as it has obtained a combined foreign loan of $51 million, N81.6 billion equivalent, using the exchange rate of N1,600/$. Information obtained from the Federal Ministry of Finance indicates that Osun State has accessed the sum of $20 million of N-CARES, equivalent to N32 billion,” he disclosed.
Olabisi called on all stakeholders in the state to prevent Adeleke from further wrecking Osun, boasting that the governor would be sacked in 2026.
Corroborating the party’s position on Adeleke’s alleged insensitivity towards education, the former Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Jamiu Olawumi, lambasted the state government for haphazardly handling the education sector.
“In the year, we also exposed the government for paying lip service to education in the state. This development has made many state institutions to rely on exorbitant school fees to source for revenues to run their schools. For instance, the state government only supported the newly established state university in Ilesa with a measly N60 million subsidy from January to September 2024 as the whole funding for the period came from students’ school fees.
“The law students who are charged N1.5 million per session and nursing students N1.2 million are the ones running the university. How many civil servants can send their children to UNILESA considering the poor remuneration of the workers and cut-throat school fees in the institution?
“Universities all over the world are funded through government subvention, private endowments and corporate sponsorship, not through arbitrary high school fees as it has become the order of the day in UNILESA and other tertiary institutions in the state.
“It calls for sober reflection that two years after the Senator Ademola Adeleke government sacked 1,500 teachers employed by its predecessor, it is yet to employ new teachers to replace them. In the whole Atakumosa East Local Government Council Area of the state, for instance, there exists just one Physics teacher. It is the same situation in Ejigbo, Iwo, Osogbo and other big and small towns in the state,” Olawumi added.
Responding to some of the questions asked, chieftains of the party, Akin Adeyi, Kehinde Ayantunji and Adebayo Adedeji flayed Adeleke for running the state like a personal venture of the Adeleke’s dynasty.
While reacting to the allegations, the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, dismissed the APC’s claims, asserting that the governor followed due process in granting pardons.
Rasheed clarified, “The governor does not unilaterally grant pardons. The State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy was duly established and reviewed each case meticulously over several days before arriving at 53 deserving cases.”
Criticising the APC’s selective outrage, Rasheed added, “If they believe an error occurred, they can file a petition. The governor exercised his power within the confines of the law. Picking one case out of 53 reeks of mischief.”
On the loan allegations, Rasheed categorically denied that Osun State had acquired foreign loans under NG-CARES.
“As a member of the executive council from the onset, I can affirm that no loan approval request has been made for any project.
“This is fake news, which the APC has continuously peddled. Osun people are discerning and educated—they know when their government is borrowing,” he said.
“What can you call N’care, World Bank matters that we even inherited from both Governor Aregbesola and, former governor Oyetola. How can you call it our matter? It’s not our matter. It’s a federal matter.
“There are many illiterate postulations coming from APC, I call it illiterate because they should know that a governor’s office is not just Mr. Governor’s office. It has more than 10 parastatals, agencies under it, General Services and others, and they execute projects, how can you now label all the expenses in that office as the office of the Governor? Fake news again,” he said.
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