Governor Makinde promises to recover $250m which he said went missing under Ajimobi

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde has promised that he will ensure the return of billions of the state funds allegedly looted from Oyo State during the tenure of his predecessor the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

Senator Ajimobi who died in June after failing to recover from Covid-19, governed Oyo State between 2011 and 2019 and it is alleged that he was unable to account for as much as N96bn ($250m) when he left office.  Speaking at an event to kickstart the construction of the 21km Ajia-Airport-New Ife expressway road, in Ajia town, Governor Abiodun said the retrieved funds would be used to develop the state’s infrastructure.

Governor Abiodun said: “They spent 96 months in office, meaning they have Oyo State's N96bn with them. We will retrieve every fund that belongs to Oyo people for the purpose of infrastructure development.

“So, tell them that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Oyo State is coming for them. I want to assure you that we will retrieve the stolen money of the state from them and use the funds to build infrastructure like this.”

He also addressed the criticisms trailing the announcement of N100bn bond issuance by his administration. According to the governor, the money will be used to reduce the infrastructure deficit in Oyo State in the shortest possible time as investors will only go where they can be assured of profits.

Governor Makinde said: “In order to achieve this, we must strategise on how to increase our spending on infrastructure because what we collect from Abuja every month from federal allocation is not even enough to pay the salaries. So, the new strategies on how to increase our spending on infrastructure is what we are doing here in Oyo State.

“I heard somebody criticizing us on radio concerning the N100bn bond and was of the opinion that this administration wants to put the state in debt. I think our people need to start telling them that Governor Makinde is not like that and for the period of eight years they spent in office, they were only preoccupied with how to corner N1bn monthly into their private pockets everyday they went to the office."