PDP to Aregbesola: Sell helicopter to pay workers’ salaries

The Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has urged the State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, to sell the state-owned helicopter to raise funds to pay workers’ salaries.

The party also blamed the governor for the financial crisis facing the state; accusing him of reckless spending such as the funding of the impeachment plot of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State.

But the Governor described the allegation as “infantile,” saying it would not amend the PDP’s battered image before the eyes of the Osun people.

He also said he would not sell the helicopter because it was meant to provide and complement security operations in the state.

Workers in Osun State are on strike over unpaid seven months salaries.

A statement by the PDP’s Director of Media and Strategy, Diran Odeyemi, in Osun, said one of the ways out of the financial crisis facing the state, was for the government to “sell the helicopter Governor Aregbesola said it procured for the state and stop frivolous trips to Cuba.”

While describing it as one of the drain pipes of the state funds, the opposition party said the administration had told the people that the helicopter was to be used for surveillance, but had since been serving the travel needs of Mr. Aregbesola and his family.

It also advised the governor and his aides to travel on economy tickets of airlines like President Muhammadu Buhari did on British Airways on a recent trip to the UK, and not to travel by chartered flight.

The PDP also expressed support for the striking workers, maintaining that Osun State found itself in the present state of insolvency because public funds were “recklessly expended on irrelevant but huge projects and ventures without adequate projection of the funds available to the state.”

“The whole world is aware of the fact that former Ekiti lawmakers were heavily bribed on the bill of Osun state for several months where they mapped out strategies on how to impeach Governor Fayose. It is also fresh in minds the huge amount Ogbeni Aregbesola expended on the last Ekiti governorship poll, Lagos governorship poll, and the Presidential project of the All Progressive Congress, APC.

“Also, a group of miscreants called “State Boys” are being illegal armed and financed by government to unleash terror on many indigenes of the state by the ruling party. All these actions and many other wasteful spending led us to where we are now which if they could be reversed could bring financial reserves for the state,” the party said.

The opposition party asked Mr. Aregbesola and the All Progressives Congress-dominated parliament to heed its advice.

“For the state lawmakers, they must have it at the back of their minds that the fragile hope of Osun indigenes now rest on them and we want to advise that they should not be rubber stamp in the hands of the governor”

“In the next four years, they must do all within their power to rescue the state from the grip of enemies and write their names in gold,” the party stated.

The governor, however, rejected the suggestion, saying the PDP leaders had become degenerate in their thinking as to coming up with selling “a mere helicopter in its security outfit in order to get funds to pay the salaries of workers in the state.”

Reacting through a statement by Bureau of Communication and Strategy in this office, Mr. Aregbesola said he was reacting to the suggestion by the PDP because of the unsuspecting public who might think there was any substance in the advice.

“The statement, which was signed by the Director of the Bureau, Semiu Okanlawon, said, “It is disheartening this is how degenerate PDP has become in their thinking process. They screamed ignorantly about two years ago that Osun procured a helicopter with a sum of N8 billion.

“We had asked them to find out the cost of a Boeing plane let alone a helicopter which was only leased and it was to beef up the Osun Swift Action Squad (SAS) for its aerial surveillance.

“This was clear to all in the state that the helicopter was procured as part of the Rauf Aregbesola administration’s comprehensive security measures to drive criminals far away from the state.”

Mr. Aregbesola denied using the helicopter for family use and also denied sponsoring the bribery of Ekiti lawmakers or any elections.

“It is obvious the PDP, after it has reached its final bus stop of defeat rigmarole, as typified by the Supreme Court decision of May 27, is merely looking for something to keep it relevant.

“But come to think of it! What could be relevant in a party that never had any touch with the people? What could be relevant in party that cannot even organise itself to give  credible and virile opposition?

“It is therefore certain that allegations such as Aregbesola financing Lagos, Ekiti, and Muhammadu Buhari’s elections are not only laughable; they demonstrate the fact that PDP cannot even be rescued from its self-inflicted tragedy. It is a party eternally rejected.”

He noted that the PDP is an opposition that is far from the people, urging the party to draw closer to the people if it intends to be a useful opposition party.

“The people of Osun need adequate security which PDP failed to provide throughout Nigeria in its 16 years of misrule. The People of Osun require good governance which the PDP could not give them.

“I therefore advise that shameful lies such as those Odeyemi cooked up again and threw to the media would not help the party. They would help sink it deeper,” he said.