Several protesters under the auspices of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State, besieged the National Assembly on Tuesday, to vent their anger over the continued nonpayment of salaries and pensions to workers and retirees in the state.
The leader of the group, Mr. Adeniyi Suleiman, said their aim was to draw the attention of the federal lawmakers to the plight of all residents of the state, most of whom he claimed are dying in silence.
Suleiman urged the leadership of both chambers to come to the aid of the helpless indigenes of the state by taking over the running of the House of Assembly who have refused to intervene in their plight despite all pleas, over the months.
He said, “We are here to lodge our bitter complaint before the Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives. Osun State is now a state of jeopardy because Governor Rauf Aregbesola embezzled, diverted, encroached and scrutinized Osun State resources into his own personal account.
“He has refused to pay the salary of workers and the pension of pensioners including gratuities. The people are not benefiting from the dividends of democracy in Osun State. That is why we are are here to protest to the National Assembly through our petition.
“We are calling on the EFCC, ICPC to take action. We have a lot of evidences which are contained in our petitions to the EFCC and ICPC.”
The group further alleged that Aregbesola also diverted N34bn bailout fund to his own personal account because he refused to use the money to pay salaries of workers, retirees and pensioners.
He added that all the projects he claimed to have executed were half done, and that the governor was allegedly using propaganda to govern Osun State.
Another member of the group, Bishop Seun Adeoye, described the situation in Osun as pathetic and urged the National Assembly to intervene before the situation will get out of hand.
Adeoye said, “We are saying that the National Assembly should come and save us from the situation in Osun. We are now receiving zero allocation in Osun. The state received N2.4bn last month but when the banks deducted debts from the source, the FAAC said the state still had N24m to pay to the federation account in the month.
“The debt Aregbesola took on behalf of the state, cannot be paid back until after 35 years.”
But in a swift reaction to the protest, the Osun Civil Societies Coalition described as political and insincere the rally of the CSCE at the National Assembly on Tuesday.
OCSC, in a press statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Abiodun Ibrahim, said that the rally was being sponsored by opposition party to destabilize the state.
Ibrahim accused a sitting judge of the Osun state High Court, Justice Oloyede Folahanmi of mobilizing members of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state for the protest.
Ibrahim said, “The Chairman of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state, Mr Adeniyi Sulaimon, Director Media and Publicity of the group, Mr Seun Adeoye, Mr Olukanni Yemi Oyedeji and other members of the group were brought by Justice Olamide Folahanmi Oloyede.
“They were in the FCT to serve as witnesses at the National Judicial Council headquarters in Abuja on Monday for her defence against the petition written to the NJC by the Osun Civil Societies Coalition on her petition against Aregbesola.
“We are confused on the intention of both the judge and the witnesses at the NJC. Could it be that the judge mobilized them to Abuja for the protest or they were sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state to show support for Justice Folahanmi Oloyede on her case?
“We wonder how a mission to serve as witness to a case turned to political protest against the governor. We want members of the public to reason on the action of the judge and the members of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state.
”Ibrahim maintained that the purported financial crisis of the state on which the rally is to be held, is gradually fading out with the payment of workers’ salaries and commencement of infrastructural projects.
“Ibrahim said that the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, on Monday commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for the disbursement of the bailout used to offset the backlog of the salary debt.He stated that there was no justification for the rally, if not to speed off campaign of calumny against the government as being dictated by the opposition party.”
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