By Biodun Esan (Ilorin)
Special Adviser on Political Communication to Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Alhaji Bashir Adigun, has advised the people of the state to be wary of plans by members of the
opposition camp to launch a coordinated campaign of calumny against
the governor and top government officials.
Adigun, who said this on Tuesday in Ilorin at a news conference,
accused some opposition politicians of desperate attempts to smear the
image of the Governor using falsehoods of various kinds.
He added that they planned to doctor documents, unverified claims,
fake videos, and other disinformation to mislead the public.
“We want to draw your attention to a plot by some opposition elements
in the state, including the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and their
allies, to smear the governor and some other top government officials
with falsehood in their desperate bid to return the state to
backwardness and wanton diversion of public funds and resources for
their private use.
“They plan to begin heavy use of some media platforms, including
online media, to attack the government using all sorts of salacious
tales that only exist in their imagination.
“We are aware that some mischievous elements are trying to rehash the
long dismissed tale of N300 million Local Government funds purportedly
missing.
“The exciting thing is that the only source to which they credit this
phantom claim has since retracted the claim on a number of occasions.
“As a government that cared about accountability set up a probe panel
which thoroughly investigated the matter.
“Various persons and government departments made presentations to the
panel and the finding was that there was nothing like anyone diverting
any money from local government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the panel headed by retired Justice
Mathew Adewara said it found no evidence that any money was missing
whatsoever.
“Despite all these, some elements are bent on misleading the public
in the name of politics.
“It is important to state that funds accruing to LGAs are barely
enough to pay salaries and other obligations.
“On many occasions, the state government has had to come through for
the local government so that everyone will get 100 per cent salary.
“It is therefore absurd for anyone to rehash any tale of any missing funds.
“The characters behind the empty lies are also repeating the
allegation about N750 million contract inflation even when the group
that made the claim had since withdrawn the allegation.
“To advertise their ignorance, they are also alleging that the
government spent N6 billion without the consent of the former
Auditor-General,” Adigun said.
According to him, there was no time that the former auditor-general
made such a claim.
“The queries the former auditor-general raised with regards to some
expenditures by a few MDAs have since been resolved and the former
auditor-general has clarified the same.
“It is to the credit of this administration that it gives free hands
for officials to do their job.
“It is also necessary to inform the mischievous elements that audit
query, as a standard practice, is not an indictment in itself,” the SA
added.
Adigun said that the audit query was to ensure that certain steps must
be taken in line with the global best practices, which the
administration followed.
“To be clear, at no time did the auditor-general or anyone alleges
fraud against the administration.
“The auditor-general has cleared the government of any wrongdoing. It
is important to clarify however that there is no law that says the
government needs the permission of the Auditor-General to spend money
already appropriated by the House of Assembly.
“The law requires that such expenditure must be retired and that was
clearly done as confirmed by the former auditor-general,” Adigun said.
He stated that the government had uncovered plots by the opposition
elements to bombard social media and other platforms with doctored
financial statements, audiovisual,
innuendoes, and all kinds of false and malicious content to discredit
the governor and other government officials.
“This plot is dead on arrival as the people can see through the
desperation of those who see public offices as their birthright and
cannot imagine that the people of Kwara State took their destinies
into their own hands in 2019.
“As we move into electioneering, the main opposition party, PDP, and
their allies will come up with various lies and propaganda to smear
the administration of Governor AbdulRazaq because of his incredible
achievements.
“Governor AbdulRazaq has been able to resuscitate the collapsed
infrastructure under the PDP government.
“The Government has been constructing new schools and renovating
dilapidated ones across the state,” he added.
The SA said the government has resuscitated health care delivery by
renovating and equipping abandoned hospitals and health centres across
the three senatorial districts, while also paying various counterpart
funds.
“New roads are being constructed in the state capital and other
communities across the state to ease traveling and open up rural
areas.
“You are also aware that the administration of Governor AbdulRazaq has
not only been paying salaries and pensions and gratuities of retirees
regularly but also paying the new minimum wage of N30, 000 despite the
drop in Federal Allocations,” he said.
Adigun was of the opinion that many states that are richer in
resources than Kwara owe salaries, while some others are paying in
percentage, but Kwara was paying minimum wage.
He said that the administration has also taken steps to put the
economy of the state on a strong footing by embarking on various
projects and programmes that will create jobs and wealth for residents
of the state.
Adigun listed such steps to include the garment factory, film studio,
the innovation Hub, Visual Arts Centre, and International Conference
Centre.
These, the SA said were some of the projects that target the youths
for employment and create wealth for indigenes and other residents of
the state.
“All these laudable achievements within three years are what give the
opposition sleepless nights, and their reason to embark on falsehood
and smear campaign.
“We, therefore, urge the media to fact-check each statement the
opposition makes as we move into electioneering because they do not
mean well for our people.
“Similarly, we appeal to the residents of the state to be wary of any
statement or contents from these desperate elements and their
different allies,” Adigun said.
END
