The Peoples’ Democratic Party in Ondo State yesterday dropped the shocker that Governor Olusegun Mimiko spent up to N1bn on his second term inauguration, which held last Sunday.
The party’s Director of Publicity, Mr Ayo Fakada, in a statement, questioned the rationale behind such massive spending on the inauguration, describing it as flamboyant, especially when the governor was still trying to prove his victory at the election petitions tribunal.
The statement continued, “We declare that given the quantum of evidences of electoral fraud that Mimiko and his party perpetrated during the October 20, election, Mimiko for now is a mere caretaker Governor, whose tenure will most certainly expire at the end of the legal fireworks currently in place.
“It is equally instructive to remind our people that the fortunes of our state have continued to dwindle since he became governor and the symptoms of illogical extravagance by this governor, who managed the economy of Ondo State from credit to debit still subsists.”
The party said it was disappointing that Governor Mimiko had no qualms spending N1bn on a needless event when millions of the state’s youths are roaming the street lacking jobs and business opportunities.
“He invited and hosted various dignitaries from both far and near and even the Diaspora included, the implication of this is that hundreds of millions of naira have been paid as honorarium to many who have no direct relevance or even any relevance whatsoever to the economy of the state.
“Worse still, it is also important to point out the fact that workers in the local government sector are still owed their January salary. Such is the careless attitude that dictates governance in our state these past years,” the statement concluded.
However, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Eni Akinsola described the accusation of the PDP as a work of fiction.
He said, “It is the figment of their imagination. They are still hallucinating from the loss they suffered during the election; they believe that everybody is as corrupt as they are.
“The people of Ondo State voted for Mimiko and they were happy to celebrate with him. Where is their evidence of the amount spent on the inauguration? They are speaking so that they could be relevant.
“They are angry, and it is because the inauguration attracted prominent politicians and political office holders across party lines. They are dazed by Mimiko’s growing popularity.”