The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osun State chapter, on Sunday said it noted the admission by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that it had received federal allocations due to local government councils in the state.
The state chapter of the APC had earlier issued a statement attacking the state branch of NULGE for condemning the payment of the allocations into illegal accounts opened by the court-sacked chairmen and councillors of the APC. In that statement, the APC admitted that the allocations had been paid but said they were not paid into the account of any of its local government council chairmen or any of the APC members or chieftains “but into the local government councils’ accounts.”
In its immediate reaction, the PDP challenged the APC to disclose the accounts into which the allocations were paid and the signatories of the accounts.
A statement issued by the state chairman of the PDP, Hon Sunday Bisi on Sunday evening described that earlier statement issued the APC as an admission of crime against the people of Osun State.
The statement reads in part:
“Rather than engaging in name-calling and reckless propaganda against the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), we challenge the APC to come clean before the people of Osun State by publicly disclosing the exact bank accounts into which the local government allocations were paid and the signatories to those accounts. The APC should also disclose the amount in each of the accounts.
“We demand these details because all the statutory officers of all the 30 Local Governments who should be aware of the payment are not aware of it. These officers manage all the accounts of the local governments. They have not seen a dime in any of their local government accounts. Also, none of the state accountant general, auditor-general for local governments and the ministry of local governments is aware of the payments or where they were paid into.
“The Osun PDP wishes to remind the APC that hurling insults at labour unions cannot change the reality that the people of Osun are demanding answers. The questions are simple: into which accounts were the allocations paid, and who are the signatories?
“We therefore join NULGE, civil society, and the good people of Osun State in demanding full disclosure or we will conclude that the APC and its leaders have staged the greatest heist in the history of Nigeria by diverting over six months of allocations of all local governments in Osun State.
“The PDP assures the people of Osun State that under Governor Ademola Adeleke, transparency and accountability will continue to be the guiding principles in the management of public funds. No amount of intimidation or blackmail by the APC will derail this resolve.”
