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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State has said that the N10 billion loan request approved by the House of Assembly is meant to clear the mess created by the regime of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state described the loan as looting in anticipation.
Oyo PDP Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, said the statement credited to the APC was watery and baseless.
He stated: “The recent loan approved by Oyo State assembly for the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde is to be used to sanitise the state from the odious mess left by the previous regime of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.
“We challenge APC in Oyo to give details of loans obtained by the last administration and clarify to the citizens exactly what those loans were used for. The era of taking loan and diverting it to private pockets or keeping it in private accounts to yield interests and later share it among corrupt individuals is gone for good.
“The reckless statement credited to Oyo APC is a lazy approach to oppose a genuine effort to bail out the state from economic stagnation and infrastructural quagmire that was celebrated by the Ajimobi-led APC government in Oyo.”
He implored Oyo APC to find ways of resolving her internal crisis, which reportedly claimed Ajimobi’s ministerial ambition.
Oyo APC publicity secretary, Dr. Abdulazeez Olatunde, in a telephone interview, asserted that Oyo people had entered ‘one-chance’ vehicle.
“The requested loan is an anticipatory looting,” he added.
The assembly had on Tuesday approved the request of the executive to obtain N10 billion to improve infrastructure. The loan, which was approved by the lawmakers during plenary, is expected from First Bank of Nigeria, United Bank Africa and Unity Bank.
In another vein, the assembly has called on the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to take urgent steps towards the completing the Oyo/Ogbomoso expressway, which it described as a death trap.
Describing security as the most crucial responsibility of government, the majority leader, Sanjo Adedoyin (Ogbomoso South) and Wunmi Oladeji (Ogbomoso North) noted that the state of the road was so terrible that travellers could not predict safe arrival to their destination, let alone possible travel time.
Adedoyin emphasised that the countless lives that had been lost to the road – the only link to Ilorin, Kwara State – made the completion of the dualised route inevitable.
He said, “It is saddening how people frequently lost their lives and property to the 51-kilometre Oyo/Ogbomoso road, which dualisation was commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and the situation still remains the same 20 years after.”
Commenting on the resolution of the house, the speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, noted that the lawmakers were concerned because the federal road connected two major zones in the state.