Aregbesola, in a release signed by the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said the confirmation by the Debt Management Office (DMO) that the state’s debt is sustainable has put an end to the lies of a mischievous opposition.

The governor said the statement from the DMO has exposed the fraud, mischief and sinister motives of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore; his Social Democratic Party (SDP) counterpart and former Head of Service in the state, Mr. Segun Akinwusi; and others bandying unrealistic and mischievous debt figures against the state.
He described the opposition’s crude and wicked resolve to tell lies against his administration as a failed strategy.
Aregbesola averred that those who are bereft of ideas and cannot fathom the depth of the philosophy behind his policies, programmes and financial re-engineering tactics only resort to cheap blackmail, outright lies and fabrications of non-existing, outlandish debt figures to confuse and hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public.
The statement read in part: “Once more, our government has been vindicated over wicked rumours being circulated by opposition that our state is heavily laden with debt amounting to staggering N350 billion.
“This government had refuted the blatant lies at several fora, yet the opposition has persistently fabricated more lies all aimed at turning the people against this government.
“The revelation of the sustainability of our debt, coming from a very important agency of the PDP led Federal Government has nailed the coffin of opposition’s lies against our government.
“The raked-up figures of N350 billion debt has now been shattered, leaving those opposed to our administration with nothing to say again.
“This story could not have been better told and told at a better time than this. The Machiavellian plot of the opposition to frustrate government efforts and create disquiet between us and the people has thus failed abysmally”.
Reminding the people of the state of the litany of lies told by the opposition, Okanlawon’s statement challenged the opposition to point to just one of its lies against the Aregbesola administration that had ever stood the test of time.
He said, “They said Aregbesola’s education reforms are controversial; Senator Uche Chukwumerije led the PDP-dominated Senate to Osun to investigate. He came out to tell Nigeria and the world as a whole must adopt the Osun examples in education if genuinely interested in solving the rots in the education sector.
“PDP, Omisore and their cohorts said the youth empowerment scheme, OYES was denigrating the youths but the World Bank, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity and the Minister of Finance adjudged the scheme as best and recommended it to Nigerian states to solve challenges of worsening unemployment and youth restiveness.
“They said Aregbesola’s measures on environment were not good but the Nigerian Meteorological Centre, another agency of the PDP-led Federal Government, wrote a letter commending his government for being proactive and preventing flood disaster as against many states that were submerged by flood.
“They have dismissed the need for Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge) but the United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and other world renowned agencies have acknowledged the device’s innovative nature and capacity to democratize access to learning.
“They said there was tension in Osun just to cause panic and drive away investors but the Speaker, House of Representatives, a PDP stalwart, came to Osun and told the world what he saw was nothing other than peaceful co-existence and happiness on the faces of the people.
“They claimed that his policies are against some faiths but leaders and congregations of all faiths have alluded to the miracles of the Aregbesola initiatives in all sectors.”
The statement said what the revelation by the Director General of the Debt Management Office of the Presidency indicated is that the opposition, for want of any other way to engage the Aregbesola administration because of his monumental achievements in less than four years, have employed falsehood, propaganda and mischief to win sympathy.
“The question is: Can this ilk of power mongers be trusted with power? Those who lie brazenly and create confusion all in the bid to capture power cannot be said to be seeking power to emancipate the people. They are obviously in desperate search for power to feather their nests and draw our people back to the stone age of economic and political slavery. The good people of Osun must be discerning enough to reject them totally,” the statement concluded.