APC Queries Adeleke’s Non-Borrowing Claim, Says He Has Accessed N22bn Loans

The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has queried Governor Ademola Adeleke over his claim that his administration has not taken any loans to finance projects.

Adeleke reiterated his claim that he has not taken any loan since the last 16 months of his administration on Tuesday in Ilesa, at the second edition of “Ipade Imole”, an open engagement between the governor and members of the public.

But the APC said Adeleke’s statement was laced with lies. 

The party said the present administration had, in 2023, accessed a N10 billion loan from an international financial institution to fund some of the infrastructure projects going on in the state, including the Ilesa Water Project.

According to the party, in a statement issued by the APC Chairman, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, through the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, Adeleke has again planned to borrow an additional N12bn from the Islamic Development Bank and World Bank to fund other projects this year.

The statement reads partly: “Lawal queried Adeleke’s claim on non-borrowing when, in 2023, his government accessed a N10 billion loan from international financial institutions to oil some of the infrastructural projects going on in the state, including the Ilesa Water Project. 

“Lawal marveled why Adeleke was not bold enough to disclose to the people of the state that his government would borrow an additional N12bn this year from the Islamic Development Bank and World Bank to fund the Ilesa Water Project, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP 3), Community and Social Development projects like O-CARES and Social Support Programme (Cash Transfer to Indigent Elderly in the state).

 “How on earth would Governor Adeleke have the effrontery to state that his government has been balancing stomach infrastructure with capital project infrastructure when it is to the discredit of his government how he has been hoarding and warehousing the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy removal palliatives in cash and food items meant for the needy in the state?”.