Osun State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has invited the Economic and Financial Crime Commission to probe his predecessor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, over N1.7bn Free Trade Zone project.
The state government said the invitation became inevitable following the discovery that there was nothing at the site of the project to show for the huge sum of money purportedly expended by the Oyinlola administration.
This was contained in a statement by an Assistant Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Osun State, Mr Gbenga Fayemiwo, on Wednesday.
The FTZ project was designed by the Oyinlola administration to facilitate commerce and trade in the state.
But the Aregbesola administration alleged that there was nothing to buttress the claim that N1.7bn had gone into the project located in Ede.
Chief Imam, Ede Central Mosque, Sheik Hussain Akajewole, during a prayer session in the mosque, had asked the governor why work had stopped on the site.
The governor told the cleric that the project was a conduit through which public fund was siphoned.
He said, “My presence in the mosque today is divine because it was barely 24 hours ago that I treated the Free Trade Zone file not knowing that the matter would come up in the house of God today and particularly in Ede town.”
On perusing the file, Aregbesola said he was shocked that by the claim that N1.7bn had been expended on the FTZ in Ede.
He said, “The content of the file disagreed with the feasibility report on the facility. If you hear what they (Oyinlola administration) did on the Free Trade Zone, the fear of God will strike you.
“They claimed to have spent N1.7bn on the Free Trade Zone but we cannot see what they spent the money on. The place is desolate.”
The governor claimed that the contractor, who was awarded the project, had absconded.
Speaking in a telephone interview, the Chief Press Secretary to Oyinlola, Mr Lasisi Olagunju, on Wednesday, declined to comment on the issue, saying that “the appropriate person will respond to the allegations.”
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