Ondo PDP refutes Akeredolu’s claim on N220b debt repayment

Abductors of APC chieftain, Ajulo, demand N10 million ransom, family pleads

The major opposition party in Ondo State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has faulted the claims by Ondo State government of paying up to 50 percent of the debt inherited from the immediate past Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

The state’s PDP Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Zadok Akintoye, in a statement made available to journalists in Akure yesterday, described the claim by the state government is fictitious and misleading.

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, had on Channels TV programme on Monday declared that the immediate past administration left a debt of N220 billion in the state. Ojogo also said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had reduced the debt by 50 per cent.

But Akintoye said: “His claim, which echoes the same misinformation credited to the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, on the state of finances inherited on February 24, 2017, is not only untrue but a clear misrepresentation of facts and an attempt to misinform citizens and cast the PDP in bad lights.”

The PDP chieftain disclosed that the PDP, under the former Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, had punctured the claims made by the APC government, urging the people not to “believe falsehood being peddled by this government.“It is on record that the Ondo State government has not made public the accounts of the state within the last three years.“We would advise the incumbent party to focus on delivering good governance and repairing its battered image rather than seeking to find excuses,” he said.

In another development, few hours after a chieftain of Ondo State Chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. James Tolorunju Ajulo, was abducted by unknown gunmen, the family has been contacted to pay N10 million ransom. A source within the family disclosed that the suspected kidnappers contacted the family member of the victim few hours after his kidnap from his house at Ibaka Quarters in Akungba Akoko.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the kidnappers spoke with the wife of the victim and demanded N10 million for his release.“The abductors have contacted the family on phone this morning. They used his personal phone to call his wife around 11:30 a.m. and asked her to raise N10 million before they would release him.“His wife was just pleading with them not to harm her husband and with the promise to get back to them soon but we have noticed that the kidnappers have already switched off the phone,” he said.