Why I secured Assembly’s nod to spend N7.6 billion loan on farm settlements, by Makinde

• ‘I stopped previous government from squandering it’
• APC not qualified to criticise governor, says PDP

The Oyo State Government has dismissed the misinformation, misconception and outright mischief in the interpretations being given to the N7.6 billion agriculture loan, which the state government last week secured the nod of the state House of Assembly to access.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, at the weekend said the government had equally noticed the deliberate misconceptions and misinformation on the loan facility, saying it was an attempt to colour the truth to confuse the unsuspecting public.

He said that the administration of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi had obtained the said loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and that the governor had, in the interest of Oyo State, prevented the past government from squandering the loan at the twilight of the administration.

Also, the state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has discountenanced a statement credited to the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in which it criticised the state governor for seeking the nod of the House to access the N7.6 billion loan earlier secured by the administration of Ajimobi.

The PDP, in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Akeem Olatunji, said: “A set of morally-bankrupt and profligate politicians cannot group themselves under whatever guise to criticise the prudent, open and people-friendly administration being run by Governor Makinde.”

“The APC, in the eight years of Governor Ajimobi, practically ran the state aground with ‘excessive and unjustified borrowing.’

“The statement by the Oyo State chapter of the APC on the N7.6 billion loan facility was not just mischievous and jaundiced, it was not-well-thought-out since it was only with the sole aim of misinforming people with short memory span.

“How can the same APC, which produced Ajimobi, whose government had concluded arrangement to spend the money on frivolous projects just five months ago now turn around to claim that the loan was freshly obtained by Governor Makinde?”