PDP accuse Osun Governor of contract inflation

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Osun state has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of contract inflation.

The party accused him of inflating the cost of constructing the Moshood Abiola International Airport at Ido-Osun from N4.5bn to N15.5bn.

Punch Newspapers reports that the Osun PDP Director of Media and Strategy, Mr. Diran Odeyemi said “We are aware that Governor Rauf Aregbesola, on January 8, 2016 through a letter with reference number SP/S96/1/vi/348 re-awarded the airport contract to the same contractor and a payment of N472m was paid as take-off sum.

“The same company had earlier been paid N2.7bn for the same project without any serious work done on the project.”

Odeyemi said “We are calling on the President and anti-graft agencies to send a secret team to the site of the so-called Moshood Abiola International Airport, Ido-Osun, to confirm what the government and the airport company had done with the N2.7bn taken from the purse of the state on December 14, 2012.

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“Out of the amount, N2.5bn was sourced as a loan from a bank to be repaid monthly at N100m from the SURE-P funds. That loan is now part of the N88bn restructured for the state by the Central Bank for repayment till the year 2034.”

Aregbesola has also come under fire from some quarters for constructing an airport, when he has a backlog of salaries to pay.