Governor Olusegun Mimiko was allegedly with a “huge sum of money in a foreign currency” caught by security operatives in the early hours of the Bayelsa State supplementary governorship election according to All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State.
The Party made the allegation in a statement signed by its Director of Publicity and Media, Steve Otaloro, the statement was issued to journalists, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
According to the statement, some sections of the media, primarily their proprietors in Ondo and Bayelsa States, were bribed by Governor Mimiko’s media aides to “kill the story” from going public.
In the statement, Mr. Otaloro disclosed that it was shocking and completely unacceptable that the State executive would allegedly take such a huge sum of money to campaign in Bayelsa State while the people of his State are wallowing in abject poverty.
“We have often heard such stories which we found difficult to believe until this instance that was intercepted by men of the security services.
“This, however, confirms why Dr. Mimiko is regarded as an ‘ATM Governor’ outside the State while the people he swore to serve are living in squalor and abject poverty”, he said.
He noted that the administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko would not deny such a story so as not to provoke the security operatives who caught the Governo with the money in Bayelsa State.
“The State Government neither owned up to the story nor denied it as it used to because it knew a denial might provoke a response by the security services to set the record straight.
“Ondo State APC views this mindless profligacy with grave consequences at the time when an average Ondo State citizen finds it difficult to have a decent meal per day and at a time when the State Government is owing workers two months salary.
“Besides, the State Government budget performance index has been less than 15 percent since the beginning of Governor Mimiko’s tenure,” he said.
The APC added that Governor Mimiko owes it a duty to tell the people of the State the source of the money he is squandering all over the place especially in the stupendously oil-rich Bayelsa State in which he used to prosecute the State’s supplementary election.
“At this point, Dr. Mimiko ought to concentrate on projects and services that would allow him to leave his footprint on the sand of time in terms of developmental projects as his tenure winds up rather than diverting the State resources to frivolous awards to boost his political ego,” the statement read.